PITTSBURGH - The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has awarded Near Earth Autonomy Inc. in Pittsburgh a contract to develop an aircraft-agnostic autonomy solution for ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship operations under an Other Transaction Agreement through the Naval Aviation Systems Consortium.
The work is intended to advance U.S. Marine Corps uncrewed logistics missions in contested maritime environments, where access to GPS and communications infrastructure may be degraded or denied.
Most uncrewed aircraft systems rely on satellite navigation and continuous data links for operation. Near Earth Autonomy aims to overcome these limitations by enabling uncrewed aircraft to conduct logistics missions, including shore-to-ship, ship-to-ship, and ship-to-shore transfers, without dependence on external infrastructure, improving operational resilience for naval forces.
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The company’s Firefly compact autonomy system is designed to integrate with a range of aircraft, particularly Group 3 and Group 4 uncrewed systems. The system weighs as little as 1 pound in its baseline configuration and about 2 pounds with a lidar-enabled payload, enabling integration across a wide variety of platforms.
Sensor integration
Firefly incorporates onboard perception and navigation using lidar, infrared sensors, and high-definition cameras, along with embedded processing to enable autonomous flight, landing, and recovery. The system supports GPS-denied navigation using onboard sensing and inertial measurement, and interfaces with host aircraft through Ethernet, USB, and CAN bus connections.
Under the contract, Near Earth Autonomy will mature capabilities such as autonomous confined-area landings, shipboard recovery in emissions-controlled environments, and navigation without GPS. These functions are critical for operations in contested electromagnetic environments where adversaries may jam or spoof navigation signals.
"This contract with the Navy is a key next step, maturing our autonomous systems performance for maritime missions," said Sanjiv Singh, CEO of Near Earth Autonomy. "We will build upon our past work on compact systems for uncrewed aerial logistics. This effort supports the Navy's ability to perform resilient, reliable maritime operations across aircraft."
The effort builds on more than a decade of autonomy development, including work on the Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System and subsequent programs focused on uncrewed logistics and confined-area operations.
The program will include a series of test events to validate system performance and operational concepts, culminating in a final demonstration at Patuxent River, Md., in September 2026. Planned demonstrations include ship search, deck tracking, night operations, and autonomous flight between moving vessels.
