Lockheed Martin has demonstrated that unmanned aircraft systems could UAVs can be integrated into national airspace.
Lockheed tested an unmanned aircraft and an unmanned helicopter in conjunction with the company’s prototype UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system. “The Stalker XE UAS provided data and a precise geolocation to the unmanned K-MAX cargo helicopter, which conducted water drops to extinguish a fire, while the UTM tracked the UAS operations and communicated with Air Traffic Control in real time,” said a Lockheed announcement.
“This demonstration represents the path forward for flying UAS in the NAS [national airspace] using flight service-based UTM capabilities to extend the technology and systems that air traffic controllers know and understand,” said Paul Engola, Lockheed Martin vice president Paul Engola. “We were able to successfully modify the existing K-MAX and Stalker XE ground control software to connect to the UTM services and conduct the firefighting mission.”
