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:

AFWERX awarded Xwing military airworthiness (MFR) for its autonomous Cessna Grand Caravan, enabling it to perform cargo missions for the U.S. Air Force in unrestricted airspace.
This approval is the first for a contractor-owned-and-operated public aircraft operation under AFWERX's Autonomy Prime and allowed Xwing to successfully integrate autonomous logistics into the national airspace during the Agile Flag 24-1 exercise.
The autonomous flights demonstrated critical advantages, including rapid, cost-effective delivery of time-sensitive cargo, reduced need for larger aircraft, and support for the military's agile combat employment (ACE) concept.
Autonomous flight technology, led by companies like Xwing and Reliable Robotics, is rapidly progressing toward broader military adoption and eventual commercial deployment, with ongoing testing and regulatory efforts.

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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.