Merlin And U.S. Air Force Partner To Advance Autonomous Flight Systems For Next-Gen Military Aircraft

The collaboration will focus on enhancing the government's Autonomy-Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) to support advanced contingency management for next-generation uncrewed and collaborative air systems

Merlin, a leading developer of assured, autonomous flight technology for defense customers, today announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Air Force (USAF) to advance autonomous capabilities that will improve mission resilience and adaptability in contested and degraded environments. The work will combine operational insight from the USAF with Merlin's expertise in autonomy architecture, human-machine teaming, and advanced mission software, leveraging the company's position as the leading defense prime contractor for AI in aviation and its recently announced path to go public through a business combination with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV (NASDAQ:BACQ) to accelerate autonomy on military platforms. The result of this work will be design enhancements that improve mission assurance, reduce operator workload, and create greater survivability across diverse operational scenarios.

Merlin and the USAF will explore new approaches to autonomous fault detection, recovery, and dynamic mission adaptation, enabling aircraft to respond more effectively to unexpected events, system degradations, or operational changes. The collaboration will emphasize open, modular solutions designed to benefit a wide range of future USAF and industry platforms, reinforcing the value of government-owned architectures and shared technical frameworks.