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Reliable Robotics is set to deepen its engagement with the U.S. Air Force and advance its uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) development under a new funding award announced Wednesday.
The $3.6 million Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) is an extension of Reliable’s prior Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts through the Air Force’s AFWERX division and has the potential to be further expanded in the future. It includes matching funding from Eclipse Ventures, an existing investor in the California-based developer of autonomous aircraft systems.
The award comes on the heels of Air Force exercise Agile Flag 24-3 in August, during which both Reliable and Joby Aviation (which recently acquired the autonomy division of Xwing) demonstrated the autonomous capabilities of their experimental Cessna 208B Grand Caravans in representative military logistics missions with safety pilots on board. Reliable’s TACFI funding will be used to perform additional flights for the military in a full UAS configuration, similar to its groundbreaking uncrewed flight at a public airport in California last November.
Related: Reliable Robotics sends autopilot for first solo
In an interview with The Air Current, Reliable CEO Robert Rose explained that while the additional funding is relatively modest, the award is significant for the opportunity it presents to obtain military airworthiness approval for its UAS, which will open the door to more significant flight demonstrations of its autonomy technology in the future.
“There’s a show-me element to this. You have to actually demonstrate that it works for a military purpose, and these contracts have given us access to exercises that have allowed us to demonstrate our technology,” Rose explained.
Once military airworthiness approval is obtained, ideally early next year, he said, “instead of just demonstrating it as part of select exercises, the Department of Defense can just call on us whenever they want, and we can support them with autonomous flights anywhere.”
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