Autonomous flight

Robinson’s R66 Turbinetruck looks like many other light cargo helicopters, yet something about it seems a little off. But what? Oh, right – instead of a cockpit, the aircraft has a pair of clamshell doors and no place for a crew.

A YouTuber has upgraded his drone-powered flying umbrella with autonomous “follow me” capabilities, turning a striking novelty into something approaching practical hands-free rain protection.

The Royal Navy highlighted its Hybrid Air Wing and Atlantic Bastion strategy as Leonardo’s full-scale Proteus autonomous helicopter completed its maiden flight on January 16, marking a key step toward mixed crewed and uncrewed operations.

The uncrewed fighter plane field is getting a tad crowded and Northrop Grumman is adding to the congestion with Project Talon. Intended to operate alongside jets like the F-35 and F-22, Talon is designed as a multi-mission Loyal Wingman aircraft.

A few days ago, California-based defense tech firm Anduril concluded the first test flights of its semi-autonomous Fury fighter jet without a pilot in the cockpit. Oh wait, there's actually no cockpit in there at all.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has taken the next logical step in making a Black Hawk helicopter autonomous by not only installing the gear needed for self-flying, but by yanking out the entire cockpit and replacing it with cargo doors.

One of the US Air Force's first official combat drones has taken to the air after only a year of building and development. General Atomics's YFQ-42A is currently undergoing flight testing in anticipation of a future fleet of 1,000 autonomous planes

In a meeting of the cutting-edge and the mundane, the US Air Force has awarded a contract to purchase Reliable Robotics' autonomous flight technology and integrate it into an ordinary Cessna 208B Caravan utility aircraft for uncrewed cargo missions.

EDAG Group has a long history of creating some of the wildest vehicle concepts out there, including a pop-up sports car camper. Now it's jumping into the next generation of mobility, building the structure for the production AIR One short-hop eVTOL.

At the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, Epic Aircraft has unveiled its high-performance personal and business aircraft, the E1000 AX, which can land itself at the touch of a button in an emergency. In fact, you don't even need the button.

Tickets for autonomous flights over two tourist spots in China should go on sale shortly. China's civil aviation authority has given the green light for EHang to begin low-altitude commercial operations with its EH216-S eVTOL.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has successfully flown an electric-powered, 115-lb (52-kg) autonomous drone that uses what it calls a "rotor blown wing" to fly like both a helicopter and an airplane and can be scaled for larger airframes.