Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue completed its first fully autonomous flight, including taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers and landing.
Talon Blue is part of Northrop Grumman’s internally-funded Project Talon portfolio focused on accelerating the development of autonomous airpower capabilities. Manufacturing and design improvements cut part count and overall weight, lowering cost and enabling faster production to meet demand for autonomous systems.
Talon Blue’s high air intake, wide wheelbase and integrated weapons bay support a wide variety of mission needs for U.S. and allied partners, the company said.
“Our customers made it clear they need autonomous systems that can be fielded faster and more affordably without sacrificing mission effectiveness. We listened. Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities. Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next," said Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager, research and advanced design at Northrop Grumman, in a statement.
The Project Talon portfolio includes Talon IQ, an autonomous testbed operating on the Scaled Composites Model 437 aircraft. Talon IQ uses Northrop Grumman’s Prism Mission Autonomy software to offer an accessible government reference architecture.
Northrop Grumman
