Northrop Grumman has selected six defense tech companies as the first group of participants in a new program aimed at developing and deploying autonomous flight software quicker.

Applied Intuition, Autonodyne, Merlin, Red 6, Shield AI and SoarTech will use Northrop’s Beacon ecosystem to test their offerings and see how they perform during a series of flight demonstrations planned for later this year.

These companies will work with a Scaled Composite Model 437 Vanguard aircraft, which has digitally-engineered wings and software both supplied by Northrop. That aircraft can be modified for optionally-autonomous flight.

“Beacon is about collaboration across industry between companies of all sizes and expertise,” Tom Jones, president of Northrop’s aeronautics systems segment, said in a relea

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