General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has embarked on a partnership with Shift5, allowing them to integrate that firm's "onboard onboard cyber anomaly detection and predictive maintenance capabilities" to USSOCOM's MQ-9A Reaper UAS.

The Shift5 partnership will "assure AFSOC and SOCOM mission readiness and cyber survivability" by way of some nifty software. Shift5 is understandably vague about the specifics, merely saying that they give "real-time, data-driven insights needed to predict and schedule maintenance effectively, helping avoid critical failures before they happen and ensuring the safety and performance of critical fleets." On the other hand, they don't just hit on the maintenance side, with cybersecurity and compliance built into their repertoire too. It makes sense why General Atomics would want to tap them into their duties these days, since the MQ-9A Reaper UAS sits on the furthest fronts of the American empire. Leaving autonomous aircraft at the very edge of contested airspace is always a little nerve-fraying for those in the control room, so wherever possible, fleet operators want to minimize their exposure to cyber attacks and weaknesses. Shift5 seems ready for such an occasion, developing methods that leverage their code to operate just as efficiently even in air-gapped systems. That makes it a fine fit for the Reaper, allowing maintainers to ferry data back and forth while in a friendly and controlled area, and keep that same data close to the chest when it's out on mission.

 

"GA-ASI has long maintained a focused commitment to unmanned combat operations and unmatched unmanned aircraft system (UAS) experience, exemplified through our MQ-9A Reaper," said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. "The next logical and immediate extension of our work in enabling the U.S. Air Force is empowering AFSOC and SOCOM with additional resiliency and survivability of the MQ-9A on the battlefield. Shift5 represents a new class of dual-use defense tech business that can successfully operate at speed and scale with us to make an immediate impact for the warfighter."

 

"The battlefield of the future will include more remotely piloted, autonomous, and unmanned systems. Central to maintaining advantage in this operating environment is access to real-time data," said Josh Lospinoso, CEO and co-founder of Shift5. "Our work with GA-ASI represents one of the most efficient and effective ways that AFSOC and SOCOM can gain access to critical operational and cybersecurity insights, democratize that data, and maintain decision dominance."