Honeywell and Merlin, the leading developer of safe, autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring autonomy to a wide variety of aircraft, including military fleets.
With this partnership, Merlin Pilot, a non-human pilot system, will integrate with Honeywell Anthem’s advanced avionics suite to reduce pilot workloads and enhance operational efficiency for special missions. Honeywell Anthem provides an intuitive user interface and advanced flight management that complements the Merlin Pilot’s advanced automation system, providing a multitude of robust and safe automated flight tasks for various aircraft.
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Honeywell and Merlin’s collaboration will initially target fixed-wing military aircraft with the opportunity to expand to other commercial and military aircraft platforms. The partnership will focus on retrofitting existing military aircraft with Merlin’s advanced automation system to enable reduced crew operations, and eventually uncrewed flight. Unlike fully autonomous systems for new aircraft development, this solution enhances current aircraft operations by minimizing the need for multiple pilots, all while maintaining stringent safety standards.
“This collaboration will benefit the military significantly, as this autonomy solution helps alleviate the pilot shortage by reducing the number of pilots required for certain aircraft operations,” said Bob Buddecke, president, Electronic Solutions, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies.
“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.”
“The safety and scalability of the aviation industry is highly dependent on the progressive advancement of autonomous capabilities. This partnership is an important step for Merlin and Honeywell to bring this technology to commercial and military aircraft, starting with single pilot operations,” said Matt George, CEO and founder, Merlin. “Honeywell is a respected company in aerospace, and paired with Merlin, together we will be able to significantly advance pilot efficiency and create a safer aviation ecosystem.”
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This MOU supports Honeywell’s alignment of its portfolio to the compelling megatrends of automation and the future of aviation. It also enables Merlin to continue enhancing pilot efficiency and flight safety for both commercial and military aviation, building on the $105 million production contract it recently won from United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the partnership it recently with Air Mobility Command (AMC) and Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) to integrate the Merlin Pilot on the C-130J and KC-135 aircraft, respectively.
