Flight automation start-up Reliable Robotics has begun working with the U.S. Air Force to advance capabilities for autonomous collaborative platforms (ACP). On July 29, the company announced it had signed a cooperative research and development agreement to collaborate on the Air Force’s Autonomy-Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA).
According to the Air Force, the A-GRA is an adaptable, modular, and scalable architecture for autonomous systems that is extensible to multiple platforms and missions. It establishes an open standard that various manufacturers can utilize as a framework for developing autonomous and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).
The California-based company will contribute its expertise in autonomous flight control systems to ensure that commercial UAS capabilities are compatible with the A-GRA, the company said. It will also provide guidance to shape the future of the Air Force’s ACP program and other activities.
“Commercial solutions are critical to the A-GRA to enable terminal area integration, and for operationally acceptable detect and avoid,” said Maj. Dustin Graves, a program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Afwerx innovation unit. “Enabling compatibility with commercial capabilities future-proofs DOD Autonomous Collaborative Platforms.”
Last September, Reliable secured a separate contract with the Air Force to provide advanced automation capabilities for airlifters and aerial refuelers. The U.S. start-up has been working with the Air Force since 2021 to design, develop, and test autonomous flight capabilities for existing Air Force platforms, including the KC-135 Stratotanker. In February 2024, the company received military airworthiness approval for its remotely piloted Cessna Caravan, which then participated in an agile combat employment exercise in August.
“Today’s modern and next-gen warfighters must be capable of operating in any airspace environment. Our partnership with the FAA to certify the Reliable Autonomy System is the reason we have a seat at the table to help DOD build the blueprint for advanced aircraft autonomy,” said Reliable CEO and co-founder Robert Rose. “Reliable is uniquely positioned to build capabilities allowing the warfighter to perform airspace-agnostic operations at levels of assurance equivalent to civilian aircraft.”
The FAA has already accepted Reliable’s technical requirements for its advanced navigation and continuous autopilot systems that form the backbone of its autonomy kit. The U.S. air safety regulator has also accepted Reliable’s certification plans for the Caravan conversions. Reliable aims to have a supplemental type certificate for Caravan conversions in hand by 2025, initially certifying the technology as a pilot aid for single-pilot operations before moving on to uncrewed commercial operations.