Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, in partnership with Shield AI, L3Harris, and Parry Labs released footage of its second autonomous test flight today utilizing new technology from Team Lakota Connector.

The test flight, which took place last month in Grand Prairie, Texas, focused on the integration of waypoint navigation onto the aircraft and represents a significant step in the development of the MQ-72C Lakota Connector program for the U.S. Marine Corps.

“Successfully testing this technology just two weeks after aircraft integration reinforces the proven performance and agility of our Team Lakota Connector partners,” said Rob Geckle, Chairman and CEO of Airbus U.S. Space and Defense. “The collective team is excited to deliver the warfighter an edge in austere environments.”

Airbus U.S. is currently in the second year of the Aerial Logistics Connector Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Prototyping Program, which aims to provide the service with aircraft prototypes to demonstrate capabilities to the warfighter through a series of operational demonstrations and experiments.

In May 2024, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded Airbus U.S. Space & Defense a Phase I Other Transaction Authority (OTA) through the Naval Aviation Systems Consortium, based on its unmanned UH-72 Logistics Connector concept, a variant of the proven UH-72 Lakota platform.

The Aerial Logistics Connector effort is one of several initiatives across the Department of Defense aimed at delivering logistical support in distributed environments during peer or near- peer conflicts.