General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has been awarded a USD 94,808,020 (EUR 87,581,753) cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation of autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) for the Smart Sensor intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) prototype unmanned aerial system (UAS), the company announced on 22 May 2024.
The work was awarded by the Army Contracting Command on 30 April 2024, with an estimated completion date of 31 March 2026.
The Smart Sensor UAS is being developed by the US Department of Defense’s Chief Digital AI Office (CDAO) with the goal of creating a platform-agnostic AI and autonomy system that enables autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance operations in contested environments, as well as the ability to communicate with other platforms. GA-ASI will deploy these new capabilities on an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a variety of sensors, including GA-ASI’s Reaper Defense Electronic Support System (RDESS) and Lynx synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
“GA-ASI has invested in and deployed autonomy capabilities for several years as part of our aircraft mission systems,” Darren Moe, senior director for automation, autonomy and AI development for GA-ASI, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “Being selected to perform this work against a pool of almost 1,000 bidders is a great achievement and opportunity for our company to apply its AI and autonomy skills to this important development program.”
Last year GA-ASI supported a 90-day deployment for the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) where the Smart Sensor was successfully demonstrated in a maritime operational environment.
