AFA 2025: Northrop Grumman aims to spur development of AI, autonomy through Beacon test ecosystem

Northrop Grumman's Model 437 aircraft with Beacon livery. The aircraft provides a platform for partners to flight test their mission software. (Northrop Grumman)

In June, Northrop Grumman unveiled its Beacon project, a “testbed ecosystem designed to rapidly deliver new autonomous mission capabilities”, according to a company statement at the time. It connects third-party mission software with Northrop Grumman's flight software, the statement said.

This “enables us to innovate with some of the best companies in the industry for AI [artificial intelligence] and autonomy”, Dan Salluce, director for advanced autonomy at Northrop Grumman, told reporters during a media briefing on 16 September ahead of the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA's) 2025 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, from 22 to 24 September.

The programme is built around a Scaled Composites Model 437 Vanguard aircraft converted for autonomous flight, he said.

“What Beacon allows us to do is take AI and autonomy and integrate it into our platform” and allow other companies to work with Northrop Grumman's flight autonomy to demonstrate their products, Salluce explained.

It provides the foundational navigation and teaming capabilities for manned-unmanned teaming, with partners bringing in more specialised mission-specific capabilities, he added.

The first group of companies participating include Applied Intuition, Autonodyne, Merlin Labs, Red 6, Shield AI, and SoarTech, he said.

Beacon flights include a safety pilot, which allows Northrop Grumman to “optionally convert control over from fully crewed, piloted control, or fully autonomous, computer-controlled flight”, Salluce explained.