Reliable Robotics, a leader in autonomous aircraft systems, today announced that it recently completed a series of automated missions across airfields in California and Nevada for the Department of the Air Force. In conjunction with Air Combat Command, Reliable demonstrated aircraft automation capabilities as part of the Agile Flag 24-3 exercise transporting cargo between military bases and airports, some hundreds of miles apart, on demand over the course of a week. The exercise was designed to be representative of the Indo-Pacific region, demanding agility, readiness and multi-domain operations. Automated flights of a Cessna 208B Caravan included autotaxi, autotakeoff, en-route navigation and autolanding. All flights were managed by Reliable’s remote pilot while an onboard pilot monitored. Reliable deployed a mobile control station onsite at Mojave Air and Space Port, which served as a base of operations for the military exercise. The rapid deployment of Reliable’s mobile control station enabled onsite demonstrations of the remote piloting side of the operation for Air Force and NASA personnel.
“We are excited to see the dual-use automation system Reliable has developed for commercial and defense customers. It’s good to see the maturity of their technology,” said Brad Flick, Center Director at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center.
“We are proud to participate in military exercises. Agile Flag provided us the opportunity to show how our autonomous flight system benefits defense missions and to demonstrate timely mission readiness.“We remain committed to serve and support the U.S. Air Force and other branches of our nation’s military,” said Dr. David O’Brien, Major General (Ret.), and Senior Vice President of Government Solutions at Reliable Robotics.
“The Air Force has a unique opportunity to redefine efficiency through autonomous operations, which can enable persistent maneuver in contested environments and simultaneous cargo delivery instead of our current sequential system. Autonomy in small platforms reduces risk and opens up the ability to land in more places including damaged runways or unimproved surfaces. Military exercises like Agile Flag provide a venue for us to more closely evaluate how technologies like autonomous systems operate in real missions,” said Colonel Max Bremer, Mobility COE Senior Advisor, Chief of Special Programs Division, Air Mobility Command.
Over the weeklong exercise, Reliable flew to eight locations, transporting essential cargo. All flights were expedited and scheduled “on-demand,” and did not require deployment of any additional infrastructure for automated flight, demonstrating the additional utility and flexibility automation can provide. Preparation for the exercise required obtaining military airworthiness and flight safety approvals for expanded operations from the U.S. Air Force. NASA Armstrong executive leadership came to observe Reliable’s Agile Flag operations at Mojave. Reliable has the only FAA-accepted certification plan for full aircraft automation, and continues to make certification progress. The safety-enhancing automation system features redundancy, high integrity navigation and an “always on” autopilot that is engaged through all phases of aircraft operation. The system is aircraft-agnostic – Reliable has remotely flown two different airframes uncrewed in civilian airspace, a Cessna 172 in 2019 and a Cessna 208B Caravan in 2023. Reliable participated in Agile Flag 24-1 earlier this year, as well as the Golden Phoenix exercise in 2023 and has been collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFWERX since 2021.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development.As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability.
Reliable Robotics launched in 2017 to bring safe, certified automation systems to commercial aviation. The company’s system enables remote operation of any aircraft type. Reliable’s vision is to transform the way we move goods and people around the planet with safer, more convenient and more affordable air transportation. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, CA and has a distributed global workforce.
