Update: Northrop Grumman developing new UAS multinode processor

NG InSight software-programmable, open systems compliant processor. (Northrop Grumman)

Programme officials at Northrop Grumman are in the midst of testing and development of a new, multinode airborne processor for use aboard unmanned aircraft systems (UASs).

The new processor is the latest variant under development for the company's NG InSight family of battlefield edge processors, Rosa Salazar, program director of advanced communications at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, said.

The UAS-focused open architecture processor variant is currently in laboratory testing phase, with programme officials focused on hosting and integrating various modules, functions, and capabilities into the processor, Salazar told Janes during a March interview.

“Versions of these capabilities are integrated for flight today,” she said, noting that efforts continue to develop, integrate, and field throughout 2025 and early 2026.

The NG InSight family of processor variants runs the gamut in terms of capacity and form factor, ranging from the five-slot 3U OpenVPX chassis under development for UASs to a 22-slot chassis for large, fixed-wing aircraft, according to Salazar.

“Here is your 3U [electronic warfare (EW) card] and here is your 3U networking module” on top of all the cryptographic and multilevel security (MLS) to allow data passback to higher command, she said. The reachback capability for NG InSight is focused on connecting these processors to the US Air Force's (USAF's) Battle Network, Salazar noted.

In December 2024 programme officials held an internal demonstration of an NG InSight multifunction airborne processor, featuring a 12-slot chassis, according to Salazar. The 12-slot version demonstrated also represented the minimum viable product (MVP) for the NG InSight programme.