Xwing Awarded Military Airworthiness for Autonomous Cessna Caravan

Xwing and fellow autonomous flight provider Reliable Robotics are now among a handful of emerging aviation firms with military airworthiness approvals.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, February 14, 2024 at 03:39 PM ET

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Air Force personnel stand in front of Xwing’s N101XW aircraft, a Cessna Grand Caravan modified for autonomous flight. [Courtesy: Xwing]

Key Takeaways:

Xwing's autonomous Cessna 208B Grand Caravan received a Military Flight Release (MFR) from AFWERX, enabling it to successfully perform cargo missions for the U.S. Air Force during the Agile Flag 24-1 exercise.
The autonomous flights demonstrated the technology's operational relevance, cost-effectiveness, and ability to integrate into the national airspace, proving its value for agile combat employment (ACE) logistics by delivering critical cargo quickly and at lower risk.
This milestone represents the first autonomous logistics mission for the Air Force under the contractor-owned-and-operated public aircraft operation designation and is a significant step towards both military and future commercial deployment of autonomous flight technology.

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Autonomous flight technology will be deployed by the U.S. military before making its way to the commercial sector.

AFWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force, has awarded autonomy technology provider Xwing military airworthiness for its self-flying Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in the form of a Military Flight Release (MFR), allowing it to perform cargo missions for the Air Force in unrestricted airspace.