Boeing and its partners are developing new on-board autonomous command and control technology to enable unmanned vehicles to perceive, process, communicate and act in accordance with their programmed mission – without input from a human operator.

Boeing will continue flight tests for the project in Cloncurry later this year.

During the flight, Boeing Australia successfully performed a number of tests, including the three jets taking off autonomously, achieving the required in-air formations, departing from the formation and each autonomously landing.

Emily Hughes, director of Boeing’s Phantom Works International, said, “The goal of our mission was to completely test out our mission system software from start to finish, using three high-performance jets.

“While we have previously flown larger numbers aircraft autonomously, this was our first opportunity to perform an end-to-end mission test with three high-performance testbed aircraft, at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour.”

Kate Jones, Queensland Minister for State Development, Tourism and Innovation, added, “Boeing is a key global player in the sector. We look forward to the company being the first user of the Cloncurry Flight Test Facility in north-west Queensland; Australia’s first drone flight test facility.

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“We’ve invested $14.5 million to develop ­the new facility, which we believe is critical to a UAS industry in the state, creating jobs and economic benefits in Queensland.” 

The technology developed as part of this project is informing Boeing’s development autonomous aircraft, including the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.

Stephen Kuper

Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.