Autonomous flight system developer Merlin Labs is joining forces with GE Aerospace to equip civil and military aircraft with reduced-crew, single-pilot, and fully-autonomous uncrewed capabilities.
Merlin and GE on Tuesday announced their team-up to develop an “autonomy core”—a certifiable autonomy and pilot-assist platform designed to reduce crews. The partners are targeting the U.S. Air Force’s KC-135 Center Console Refresh (CCR) effort for the first integration of the system. Later, they will expand to tankers and turboprops used for refueling, transport, and civil aviation missions.
“We’re able to combine our proven flight management system expertise and modular open system architectures with Merlin’s autonomy software to unlock new capabilities that will redefine what’s possible for next-generation autonomous flight,” said Matt Burns, general manager of avionics systems for GE, in a statement.
Merlin CEO Matt George added that the collaboration will expand the types of platforms that can be equipped with Merlin Pilot—its platform-agnostic, takeoff to touchdown autonomy system—and get it into customers’ hands more quickly. FLYING in December was first to report Merlin’s 19-month partnership with the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command and Air Force Research Laboratory, which George said aims to retrofit the branch’s entire tanker fleet.
“Our national security relies heavily on our continued air power dominance, and integrated systems that allow for the use of autonomy-focused solutions are essential to that ongoing strength,” George said Tuesday.
Autonomy in the Cockpit
Merlin is working to integrate Pilot on the KC-135 as well as the C-130J Hercules, another workhorse Air Force model. The system is designed to make decisions just like a human and will at first function as an artificial intelligence-powered copilot alongside a safety pilot. Eventually, the aim is to remove the safety pilot, beginning with smaller cargo aircraft.
Flight control computers collect data from an array of external sensors and cameras and feed it into Pilot, giving the system a precise view of the environment. It manipulates control surfaces by sending commands to actuators and uses natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to “speak” to air traffic control (ATC) in a range of different accents and voice types. If the flight profile is disrupted, Pilot can autonomously generate an alternative route or assist with an emergency landing.
Merlin is working with the FAA to obtain Part 25 airworthiness for Pilot, which would allow customers to fly people or cargo with retrofitted aircraft. It is also pursuing a supplemental type certificate that would authorize it to modify other Part 23 aircraft. The company’s Part 135 air operator certification in New Zealand allows it to use the country as a sandbox for its systems.
Merlin said GE will contribute “expertise in flight management systems and open system architecture” to the autonomy core, which it envisions as the “system of record for high assurance aerial systems.” The platform will incorporate Merlin’s autonomy software, vehicle management, avionics packages, and datalinks.
Merlin said the partnership opens the door to install Pilot on the more than 14,000 aircraft equipped with GE’s flight management systems. In July, it partnered with another defense titan, Northrop Grumman, to integrate the system on its Beacon testbed—a Scaled Composites Model 437 Vanguard.
For GE, the collaboration deepens its exploration of cutting-edge aviation technology. On Monday, for example, it announced the successful completion of supersonic test flights using a Starfighters F-104. The company aims to develop propulsion systems that push well beyond Mach 1 into the hypersonic category. Earlier this month, it invested $300 million in electric aircraft developer Beta Technologies, with which it will build a hybrid-electric turbogenerator.
The military is exploring all of these technologies by contracting with the private sector, but autonomy is in particularly high demand. The Defense Department is seeking more than $13 billion to support autonomous systems in its fiscal year 2026 budget.
In August, the Air Force took its first steps toward deploying a system like Pilot in the field, purchasing Merlin competitor Reliable Robotics’ autonomy system. Reliable will help retrofit a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, which it told FLYING will likely be deployed initially in the Indo-Pacific region.
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