FALLS CHURCH, Va. – July 30, 2025 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is announcing the first six strategic partners who will use its Beacon™ testbed ecosystem to rapidly test and deliver new autonomous solutions at scale.
- The initial partners are Applied Intuition, Autonodyne, Merlin, Red 6, Shield AI and SoarTech, an Accelint company.
- Partners will test and refine their solutions using the Scaled Composites-built Model 437 aircraft, along with Northrop Grumman’s proven flight autonomy hardware and integration expertise, during a series of flight demonstrations planned for this year.
Expert:
Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president, Aeronautics Systems, Northrop Grumman: “Beacon is about collaboration across industry between companies of all sizes and expertise. By providing open access to the Beacon ecosystem, we’re enhancing the innovation, new competition and ultimately the autonomous capabilities that industry can deliver to our customers – with unmatched speed and at scale."
Beacon brings software from companies of all sizes together with its proven flight software and hardware to test real-world mission scenarios. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)
Details:
Built on decades of autonomy experience and over 500,000 autonomous flight hours, Northrop Grumman’s Beacon ecosystem connects the best of industry, paving the way for the future of autonomy. Designed as an open-access testbed ecosystem aligned to government reference architectures, Beacon integrates Northrop Grumman’s advanced autonomous software and solutions within an equally advanced digital ecosystem. Beacon will support future aircraft programs by accelerating software deployment, reducing risk and improving readiness.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world, and push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our employees define possible every day.