USAF and Merlin Labs
plan to flight test Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Hercules with autonomous software
as a co-pilot.
By Kimberly Johnson
August 4, 2022
 |
| A HC-130J Combat King takes off from the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. [Courtesy: U.S. Air Force] |
Can a Lockheed
Martin (NYSE: LMT) C-130J Hercules fly with just one pilot? It’s a scenario the
U.S. Air Force is exploring through a new partnership with Merlin Labs, a
Boston-based autonomous flight company that’s gearing up to test autonomous
operations in the Air Force’s venerable cargo workhorse.
Under the
collaboration, Merlin Labs will retrofit a C-130 with software and technology
that will slim down the number of onboard crew, from two pilots to one. The
C-130, built at Lockheed Martin’s factory in Marietta, Georgia, holds the
record for the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft,
according to the manufacturer. The Hercules first flew in 1954.
Wizardry in a Box
In an era of
widespread pilot shortages, autonomous operations are a forward-leaning move
for the service, according to the company.
“Merlin’s advanced
hardware and software technologies allow for increased safety and the
possibility of crew reductions in the face of a global shortage of pilots,”
Merlin Labs said in a recent statement announcing the partnership.
The wizardry behind
Merlin is contained in a box, outfitted with software that responds to data
from sensors, Merlin Labs CEO Matthew George said, according to Popular
Science. “Depending on the aircraft, we have a bunch of different interfaces
that allow the Merlin pilot and the Merlin intelligence to be able to go and
control the aircraft surfaces.”
It will also follow
verbal instruction from air traffic control. “The system present-day is
designed to be talked to just like a human pilot and will respond just like a
human pilot, albeit with a slightly funny voice,” George said.
In September 2021,
Merlin received certification by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
(CAA) and the FAA for its takeoff to touchdown autonomy system.
Leveraging New
Technologies
The Merlin
partnership is the latest bid by defense officials to explore leveraging new
technology to ensure future operational readiness.
Earlier this year, a
Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk conducted a 30-minute flight over Fort Campbell,
Kentucky, with no pilot or crew on board as part of a flight test for the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit
Automation System (ALIAS) program. During the flight test, the Black Hawk flew
through a simulated city, while avoiding imagined buildings and re-planning its
route in real time. It also executed a series of pedal turns, maneuvers, and
straightaways, before completing a perfect landing, all autonomously.
Last month, a
spokesman for McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, confirmed that base leadership
had sought a waiver to explore operation of Boeing (NYSE: BA) KC-46 Pegasus
tankers with one pilot and one boom operator—one pilot less than the typical
minimum requirement for combat scenarios where demand for sorties would be
elevated, The Drive reported.
“The command is
currently reassessing minimum flight crew requirements as we explore and
validate new tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) oriented towards a
dynamic, future fight,” Air Force Maj. Hope Cronin, the AMC spokesperson, said,
according to The Drive. “The waiver request in question is part of the process
to safely validate exploratory TTPs that are being assessed in training
simulations and concept of employment development for potential use in a
hypothetical peer competitor fight.”
While resetting the
minimum number of aircrew onboard tankers in a time of war would potentially
minimize personnel losses, the idea has drawn criticism about safety.
“This is not only
inherently risky and dangerous, it’s against the Boeing flight manual,” an
anonymous poster wrote on the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page at the time
the waiver was sought. “The reason is due to McConnell afraid of their poor
pilot retention.” The base did not immediately respond to FLYING’s request for
comment.
Pilot Shortage
Across the board,
the supply of aviators is growing thinner. From corporate aviation to
commercial airlines, pilot shortages have prompted new ways of thinking when it
comes to recruitment and training. Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), for example,
dropped its four-year degree requirement for pilots, while United Airlines
(NASDAQ: UAL) is investing $100 million in a new training campus in order to
reach its goal of hiring 10,000 new pilots by 2030.
The shortage
scenario is no different in the military.
Earlier this year,
the Air Force revealed it’s facing a
shortage of more than 1,600 pilots, with the most acute shortage in the fighter
pilot community. It’s a scenario that’s far from new. By the end of Fiscal Year
2021, the Air Force reported a pilot shortage of 1,650, according to service
personnel data.
As pilot numbers
dip, autonomous technology can enable them to perform other missions, George
told Popular Science. “The Air Force, I think, has picked the C-130J as the
first testbed for this because it’s the most ubiquitous transport aircraft out
there. It is a really good platform to start to think about autonomy in the
cockpit in a very real and practical way.”
Sierra Nevada to produce secure data communications avionics for MC-130J aircraft tactical networking
C-130J Hercules: Details
