Honeywell in May 2023 successfully completed the first flight of its Honeywell Anthem integrated flight deck using Honeywell’s Pilatus PC-12 test aircraft. (Photo: Honeywell)
Honeywell, a supplier of avionics systems, and Merlin, a small company developing software for autonomous military aviation, have partnered to bring more autonomy to military and commercial aircraft.
The initial focus of the partnership will be fixed-wing military aircraft, the companies said on Thursday. The companies will evaluate transport aircraft, tankers, and fixed-wing special mission aircraft, Honeywell said in a response to questions.
Merlin, based in Boston, has developed the Merlin Pilot AI software and is taking a crawl, walk, fly approach to integrating its product on military aircraft. The partnership with Honeywell adheres to this approach.
The companies said Merlin’s software will be integrated with Honeywell’s Anthem avionics suite to reduce pilot workload and enhance operational efficiency for special missions.
“By enabling single-pilot operations and automating key tasks, this partnership provides a scalable and safe solution to ease pilot workload and optimize fleet operations for both the military and commercial aviation industry,” Bob Buddecke, president, Electronic Solutions at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies, said in a statement.
Anthem is not currently used on military aircraft. The company began flight-testing with the integrated flight deck in 2023. The avionics product is the first cloud-connected cockpit system that can be customized for most aircraft, Honeywell says.
Honeywell said the memorandum of understanding with Merlin support the company’s alignment with megatrends in automating aviation.
Merlin’s AI pilot is being flight tested on a Cessna aircraft to prove out the technology. The software then will be integrated into Air Force C-130J and KC-135 aircraft for further development.
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.
