General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) successfully demonstrated aircraft carrier deck handling with a surrogate MQ-25 Stingray, the company said Monday.

Using a Predator C Avenger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a surrogate, the demonstration covered taxi capability and transition to the launch and recovery phases. This kind of test is meant to show the company’s proposal can operate correctly under aircraft carrier conditions.

Screenshot from a video demonstrating General Atomics' proposed MQ-25 deck control  using a Predator C surrogate aircraft. (Image: General Atomics).
Screenshot from a video demonstrating General Atomics’ proposed MQ-25 deck control using a Predator C surrogate aircraft. (Image: General Atomics).

The Navy’s Stingray aims to be used primarily for aerial refueling, potentially extending an air wing’s range by an additional 300-400 miles. The contract is limited to GA, Boeing [BA], Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, Oct. 13, 2017), although weeks after the bid request, Northrop Grumman dropped out from the competition.

The Navy plans to award a final contract later this fiscal year.

In February, GA revealed several partners and components in its offering, including a Pratt & Whitney United Technologies [UTX] PW815 commercial engine as well as competitor Boeing, which will provide a facility for final assembly, integration and checkout, and its experience in carrier suitability, test, and evaluation (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).

Boeing first unveiled its own full prototype model last December (Defense Daily, Dec. 19) and revealed more details to reporters earlier this month (Defense Daily, April 6). During the April presentation, Don Gaddis, Boeing’s Phantom Works MQ-25 program director confirmed he is firewalled off from the partnership work with GA’s bid and does not know anything about it (Defense Daily, April 6).

GA said its MQ-25 deck operations will use specially-designed director wands to direct the aircraft on a carrier’s deck. Directors will fully control the aircraft taxi operations on the deck, including raising and lowering the launch bar, spreading and folding the wings, and raising the arresting hook. GA’s wands are the same size, shape, and weight as those currently in use on carrier decks.

These specialized wands use gesture recognition algorithms to recognize standards flight deck director hand gestures and translate those to the MQ-25. The aircraft then converts those instructions into appropriate actions.

David Alexander, president of Aircraft Systems at GA-ASI, explained the aircraft will be able to ‘talk back’ to the controller and other personnel on the flight deck via a series of LEDs that change color or flash to show they have received a command and indicate the MQ-25’s operating state or condition.

“A safety observer on deck can stop the aircraft instantly any time an unsafe situation is identified. To give you an idea of how the system works, think Wii® for aircraft control,” Alexander said in a statement.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have not revealed what method of deck control they use, whether its translating physical gestures or more traditional joystick-computer controls. Boeing told reporters earlier this month it has previously conducted its own deck handling demonstration at its facility in St. Louis, Mo.

GA-ASI underscored that with this test it has proved it’s MQ-25 model can integrate with the complex environment of flight deck operations.

“MQ-25 will need to integrate seamlessly with the Carrier Air Wing regardless of whether the aircraft is conducting flight or deck operations. This demonstration proves that the GA-ASI solution will integrate into existing ship operations, and that translates into less time spent steaming into the wind for launches and recoveries,” Alexander said.