The flight followed a separate Oct. 8 demonstration in which an airborne F-22 pilot gave high-level instructions to a single FQ-44A Fury. Hivemind interpreted those instructions in real time, allowing the Fury to maneuver and perform simulated combat tasks under the pilot’s direction.
“Every flight gives us data that goes into the next software release,” said Todd Wesley, Shield’s vice president of Hivemind engineering. “The combined Hivemind and aircraft software release process is nearing the point where the Air Force can fly a sortie, update the software overnight and fly again the next day.”
The Air Force’s Autonomy Government Reference Architecture uses standard interfaces to separate software that carries out missions from functions specific to each aircraft. That separation makes it easier to add capabilities without redesigning the aircraft’s software and helps keep suppliers in competition, Shield said.
The aircraft used in the tests run the same core software that Shield has integrated into more than 40 uncrewed systems across air, land, sea and space. Shield said it would continue testing with the Air Force and use the flight data to refine the software.
