GatewayONE prototype facilitates new data paths but loses connectivity in flight

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated with a statement from a Kratos executive.)

A communications gateway prototype successfully facilitated a secure two-way data path across multiple platforms but lost connectivity while integrated with an XQ-58A Valkyrie during the drone’s first semi-autonomous flight alongside F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, the Air Force announced in a press release Monday.

The tests occurred Dec. 9 at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ, and supported the Air Force’s efforts to achieve joint all-domain command and control using technology products from the Advanced Battle Management System program.

The ABMS “gatewayONE” product is intended to enable fifth-generation aircraft using incompatible digital languages to exchange data with one another as well as other platforms and battle managers. The prototype achieved nine of 18 test objectives during the Dec. 9 demonstration with a Marine Corps F-35B and Air Force F-22 and F-35A.

The technology successfully pushed data typically relegated to an operations center or tactical ground node directly into the cockpit, moved position data of each aircraft outside its close-proximity formation and passed cues from ground operators to the fighters and a cue between the jets themselves for the first time.

The gatewayONE also established a communications pathway between a KC-46 Pegasus tanker and a ground node and enabled the F-35B to send full-motion video to a ground controller, the notice states.

Also for the first time, the Air Force integrated gatewayONE with an ABMS “attritableONE” XQ-58A drone, which is intended to be low-cost and reusable. However, the communications payloads lost connectivity shortly after takeoff, preventing the Air Force from achieving these test objectives.

Nevertheless, Kratos’ Valkyrie conducted its inaugural, semi-autonomous flight with the F-22 and F-35 -- marking a significant accomplishment for the aircraft after its rocket-assisted take-off system experienced an issue that drove the Air Force Research Laboratory to abandon a flight test this summer.

Steve Fendley, president of Kratos' unmanned systems division, said in a statement shared with Inside Defense today: "Kratos is extremely proud of the roles our XQ-58A Valkyrie and personnel are playing in enabling and demonstrating this key ABMS capability while aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of the exquisite 5th generation fighter systems. We are committed to development and realization of affordable defense technologies making today particularly exciting for us with this substantial achievement."

Lt. Col. Kate Stowe, the Air Force’s gatewayONE program manager, said in the Air Force's release that among the Dec. 9 test activities, “the real win of the day was seeing the gatewayONE establish a secure two-way translational data path across multiple platforms and multiple domains.”

“The future is promising, and gatewayONE will allow the F-22 and F-35 to connect to and feed data sources they've never before accessed,” Lt. Col. Eric Wright, an F-35 pilot with the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron, added. “Those future connections will bring additional battlefield awareness into the cockpit and enable integrated fires across U.S. forces.”