Hanneke Weitering is a writer and editor with AIN covering advanced air mobility and new flight technologies. She became an aviation journalist and joined the AIN team in the summer of 2022 after reporting on spaceflight and astronomy for six years at Space.com. After earning a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she moved to New York City to pursue a master’s degree in science, health, and environmental reporting at New York University&#039;s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She is now based in Seattle near Boeing Field and spends her free time exploring nature in the Pacific Northwest.

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Hanneke Weitering

Northrop Grumman has partnered with autonomous flight pioneer <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/company/merlin">Merlin</a> to integrate the highly automated Merlin Pilot flight control system into its Beacon testbed ecosystem, which will use a Scaled Composites Model 437 Vanguard demonstration aircraft to test and demonstrate autonomous flight solutions for defense applications. The partners intend to conduct a series of flight demonstrations later this year.
Merlin is one of six companies that Northrop Grumman selected to participate in the Beacon project. Other program partners include Silicon Valley self-driving car start-up Applied Intuition, Avidyne spinoff Autonodyne, augmented-reality specialist <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2024-07-20/raf-tests-inflight-augmented-reality-training">Red 6,</a> drone developer Shield AI, and SoarTech, an Accelint subsidiary specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for various military technologies.&nbsp;
“Beacon is about collaboration across industry between companies of all sizes and expertise,” said Tom Jones, Northrop Grumman’s corporate vice president and president of its Aeronautics Systems sector. “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.”
The Model 437 Vanguard, which Scaled Composites originally built for Northrop Grumman in 2021, is an experimental stealth demonstration airplane intended to test rapid design techniques for Northrop Grumman’s “Digital Pathfinder” program. In June 2025, the company announced that the new Beacon project would use the aircraft to demonstrate the rapid integration of autonomous flight technologies.
“The demand for autonomous capabilities, especially in defense applications, is accelerating rapidly,” commented Merlin founder and CEO Matt George. “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.”&nbsp;
Merlin is working with the United States Special Operations Command to integrate its autonomous Merlin Pilot system with the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft and the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. The Boston-based company has been using Cessna 208B Grand Caravans to develop and test its autonomous flight technology, which is intended to initially serve as a pilot aid for reduced-crew operations before progressing to fully autonomous and uncrewed aircraft.
“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,” George added.

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