Reliable Robotics will provide the U.S. Air Force with an automated Cessna 208B Grand Caravan equipped with its Reliable Autonomy System (RAS) under a $17.4 million contract, the company announced Tuesday. The agreement includes integration, testing and operational missions of the single-engine turboprop, which Reliable first flew without a pilot on board in 2023. According to the company, its FAA-certifiable technology enables continuous operations at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems while maintaining type-certified safety standards.
The Air Force plans to use the Caravan for overseas deployments, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, where austere environments and limited pilot availability can constrain operations, Reliable told FLYING.
“Autonomy has been in use by the military for decades, and we’re confident that after this contract, we’ll show the value of automated cargo operations and grow the size of the deployment,” said retired Major General David O’Brien, Reliable’s senior vice president of government solutions.
The system automates all phases of flight—including taxi, takeoff, enroute and landing—and can be overseen remotely with multiple layers of redundancy and precision navigation technology.
The Air Force has worked with Reliable through a series of contracts and exercises aimed at integrating autonomy into aircraft such as the Caravan and KC-135 Stratotanker. The service has also engaged the company in developing the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) to support multi-mission, multi-platform autonomy solutions.
“Autonomous aircraft are a true force multiplier,” said retired General Mike Minihan, former commander of Air Mobility Command, in a statement. “Reliable’s automation shows how the Air Force is leveraging autonomy not just to reduce risk, but to expand the number and diversity of locations where sustainment can go—directly, securely, and at the tempo required to win.”
The thought of a fully loaded KC-135 Stratotanker flying overhead with no crew on board scares the hell out of me.