Near Earth Autonomy

Near Earth Autonomy develops autonomous flight systems for aircraft from its base in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main product is Captain, an autonomous pilot system. The company says Captain is airworthy up to the highest certification standards. It lets aircraft carry out missions, manage risk and handle problems with reduced crew or none.

The company reports more than 60 aircraft types integrated, over 3,000 autonomous flight hours and over 11,000 autonomous flights. It describes over a decade of autonomous helicopter development. Its mission is to expand aviation by making autonomous flight trusted and ready for missions.

Near Earth Autonomy offers its work in three steps. Integrate means custom engineering and aircraft integration to put Captain on a platform. Validate means testing and safety analysis up to the highest certification levels. Deploy means training, support, updates and lifecycle services that scale across missions.

RUC-60 is an optionally piloted UH-60L Black Hawk for moving large cargo in contested areas. Captain flies the cargo missions without aircrew on board. The target is up to 5,000 pounds per load and 90,000 pounds per day. The aircraft can fly crewed, optionally piloted or uncrewed. Onboard mission and contingency management means it needs no onboard or remote pilot and no constant data link. The target setup includes terrain and obstacle avoidance, landing zone evaluation and flying in degraded visual conditions.

RUC-505 is an uncrewed aircraft based on the Bell 505, built for expeditionary logistics and launched effects. It targets a payload of over 1,000 pounds, or a ferry range of about 900 nautical miles with extra fuel and a 50 pound payload. The compact setup is designed so that two aircraft fit in one C-130. Both aircraft are currently taking orders. Converting existing Black Hawk and Bell 505 aircraft avoids the cost and delay of designing a new aircraft.

The company also lists Firefly, a line of compact flight systems. It says Captain supports reduced crew and uncrewed missions for commercial and defense customers.

Services

• Captain autonomous pilot system
• Aircraft integration engineering
• Testing and safety validation
• Training and lifecycle support
• RUC-60 optionally piloted Black Hawk
• RUC-505 uncrewed Bell 505
• Firefly compact flight systems