GA-ASI Awarded Contract to Enhance the Autonomous Sensing Capabilities of Unmanned Aircraft

The JAIC Smart Sensor project will be deployed on the remotely piloted Reaper MQ-9, along with GA-ASI’s Metis product commanding the aircraft By Joseph Macey / 27 Nov 2020

Discover Leading Defense Technology Solutions

Discover cutting-edge solutions from leading global suppliers
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
Predator-B_Block-5_Gray-Butte
Follow DA

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.(GA-ASI) has been awarded a $93.3 million contract from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to enhance the autonomous sensing capabilities of unmanned aircraft. The goal of the JAIC Smart Sensor project is to advance Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology by demonstrating object recognition algorithms using an unmanned aircraft, as well as employing onboard AI to control the aircraft’s sensors and direct autonomous flight. 

 “GA-ASI is excited to leverage the considerable investment we have made to advance the JAIC’s autonomous sensing objective,” said GA-ASI Vice President of Strategic Development J.R. Reid. “This will bring a tremendous increase in unmanned systems capabilities for applications across the full-range of military operations.”

GA-ASI will deploy the technology on the MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft configured with multiple sensors, including GA-ASI’s Reaper Defense Electronic Support System (RDESS) and Lynx® Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).

GA-ASI’s Metis product will be used to command the MQ-9. Metis is an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) tasking and intelligence-sharing application that enables operators to specify effects-based mission objectives and receive automatic notification of actionable intelligence.

Posted by Joseph Macey Connect & Contact

Latest Articles

Practical Methods for Balancing UAV Propellers Safely & Effectively

Tyto Robotics discusses the ways to add and remove materials from drone propellers, considering advantages and disadvantages of various products and techniques

Jul 11, 2025
Military-Grade Tethered Drone Systems for Surveillance & Security Missions

DPI UAV Systems (Dragonfly Pictures) is a developer of advanced tethered drone systems for military, government and security applications. As...

Jul 11, 2025
Modular Chassis Design Enhances Deployment Flexibility for Defense Systems

LCR Embedded Systems explains how modular chassis design supports rapid deployment and cost-effective packaging for rugged embedded systems using open standards like VPX and SOSA

Jul 10, 2025
MilDef to Supply Rugged IT Equipment for Norway’s Defense Digitization

MilDef has secured a major contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to supply rugged IT equipment supporting Norway’s defense digitization efforts

Jul 10, 2025
Tethered Drone Technologies for Mission-Critical Defense & Security Applications

Defense Advancement showcases Elistair's tethered drone solutions for mission-critical defense and security applications

Jul 10, 2025
New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025

Featured Content

New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025
Teledyne FLIR OEM Whitepaper: Synthetic Data Generation for AI Object Detection

Read Teledyne FLIR OEM’s whitepaper on AIMMGen™, a defense-oriented synthetic data and AI model generation pipeline tailored to Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) and object classification tasks

Jul 03, 2025
Galvion’s Production Hub in Poland Now Open & Operational

Galvion's new Production Hub in Poland has formally opened through a large ceremony held at the Gdansk facility with factory tours, demonstrations, and live models of helmets

Jun 30, 2025
Advancing Defense Capability Through Strategic Collaboration Defense Advancement works with major OEMs to foster collaboration and increase engagement with SMEs, to accelerate innovation and drive defense capabilities forward.