Merlin, a leading developer of assured, autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, today announced an agreement with Northrop Grumman to integrate the Merlin Pilot onto its next-generation testbed ecosystem, Beacon™. Unveiled in June 2025, Beacon™ is designed to accelerate the development of autonomous mission capabilities by providing an open-access environment where technology partners like Merlin can test, validate, and refine their systems in alignment with government requirements.

Merlin serves as the prime contractor with the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for integrating autonomy on the C-130J and is rapidly advancing its work on the KC-135. This collaboration with Northrop Grumman accelerates next-generation uncrewed systems, reduces risk, and reinforces Merlin’s platform-agnostic strategy, marking a pivotal step toward adding the Scaled Composites-built Model 437 Vanguard to its growing portfolio.

Utilising Model 437—now modified for optionally autonomous flight—Northrop Grumman is getting new mission and flight autonomy software airborne and validated faster. Merlin is providing its mission autonomy software, the Merlin Pilot, for critical testing and validation activities. Specifically, Merlin will provide engineering integration for software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing and flight test operations, contribute to test procedure and documentation development, participate in recurring planning sessions, and deploy on-site personnel for flight tests in Mojave, California.

“The demand for autonomous capabilities, especially in defense applications, is accelerating rapidly,” said Matt George, CEO and founder of Merlin. “Our collaboration with Northrop Grumman marks a major milestone in advancing mission autonomy—combining Merlin’s innovative software with the scale, rigor, and hardware expertise Northrop Grumman offers, which is needed for real-world deployment. The significance of joining the Beacon™ project is that it allows us to validate our technology on military aircraft and in mission-relevant environments, but also enables us to test and adapt new capabilities from Northrop Grumman for future Merlin efforts.”

“We look forward to working with our partners to integrate their innovative capabilities that will accelerate the development of future autonomous platforms,” said 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 access to the Beacon ecosystem, we’re enhancing innovation, new competition and ultimately the autonomous capabilities that industry can deliver to our customers – with unmatched speed and at scale.”