Autonomous flight system completes cargo resupply mission at Twentynine Palms

By Justin Katz / May 18, 2018 at 10:31 AM

An autonomous flight system successfully completed its first cargo resupply mission last week at Twentynine Palms, CA, according to the system's contractor.

The Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility Supply "completed its first closed-loop mission from takeoff to landing for its intended purpose: actual cargo resupply to Marines," Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences announced May 17.

"The AACUS-enabled UH-1H helicopter successfully completed an autonomous cargo sustainment flight delivering 520 pounds of water, gasoline, [meals-ready-to-eat] and replacement communications gear including a packed cooler to represent urgently required cargo such as blood," according to the company's statement.

"This was the first ever autonomous point-to-point cargo resupply mission providing critical logistics support to Marines in need," the statement continued.

AACUS "utilizes the information that comes out of the [commercial-off-the-shelf] sensors and uses it to make intelligent decisions, interact with the humans and with the operators and to fly the aircraft," Fritz Langford, chief engineer for AACUS at Aurora, told reporters in December during a demonstration at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA.

Marine Corps logisticians told Inside the Navy last year they hope to see the technology transition to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary program. AACUS was developed by Aurora and the Office of Naval Research.

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