诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的YFQ-48A“塔隆·蓝”协同作战无人机近日完成了首次完全自主飞行。
Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue Collaborative Combat Aircraft recently completed its first fully autonomous flight.
根据该公司近期发布的消息，“塔隆·蓝”在加利福尼亚州莫哈韦沙漠地区完成了首次完全自主飞行，飞行过程涵盖了滑行、起飞、空中机动及着陆等环节。
Talon Blue executed its first fully autonomous flight in Mojave, California, which included taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers and landing, according to a recent company release.
作为这家国防企业自行出资开展的“塔隆计划”的一部分，该无人机的模块化设计旨在在不牺牲任务性能的前提下，通过改进制造工艺来降低成本并加快生产速度。
The modular design, part of the defense company’s internally funded Project Talon portfolio, focuses on advancing manufacturing to lower cost and speed production without decreasing mission capability, per the statement.
制造与设计方面的改进有效减少了零部件数量及整机重量，从而降低了成本并缩短了生产周期，以满足市场对自主飞行系统的需求。
Upgrades to manufacturing and design decreased part count and overall weight, which lowered the cost and increased the production timeline to meet the demand for autonomous systems.
诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司研究与先进设计部门副总裁兼总经理克雷格·伍尔斯顿在公告中表示：“客户们明确表示，他们需要能以更低的成本、更快的速度部署且不影响任务效能的自主飞行系统。我们认真听取了这些需求。”
“Our customers made it clear they need autonomous systems that can be fielded faster and more affordably without sacrificing mission effectiveness. We listened,” Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager of research and advanced design at Northrop Grumman, said in the release.
他接着说道：“‘塔隆·蓝’的首次飞行标志着我们向新一代自主飞行能力迈出了重要一步。每一次飞行及从中获得的经验都将助力我们推进自主技术研究工作，为后续发展奠定基础。” 就在几周前，美国空军官员宣布计划到2032年让500架自主飞行无人机投入服役。
“Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities,” he continued. “Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next.”The announcement came just weeks after U.S. Air Force officials announced their intention to have 500 autonomous aircraft in service by 2032.
美国空军部长特洛伊·迈因克还公布了相关无人机的命名：安德利尔公司研发的FQ-44A被命名为“狂怒”，通用原子公司研发的FQ-42A则被命名为“复仇”。这两家公司均在今年6月获得了生产合同；就在同一个月，安德利尔公司完成了首次实弹射击测试。通用原子公司也计划于今年秋季开展同类测试。
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink released the names of Anduril’s FQ-44A and General Atomics’s FQ-42A to be dubbed “Fury” and “Vengeance,” respectively. Production contracts for the two companies were awarded in June, a month before Anduril completed its first-ever live-fire test. General Atomics intends to have its live-fire testing this fall.
目前美国空军尚未与诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司签署自主作战无人机相关合同，不过该公司已被纳入空军用于开发任务自主控制软件的供应商名单之中。
The Air Force has not awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for CCAs yet, but the company is included in the service’s baseline contract pool for mission autonomy software production.
该机构于6月份从多家供应商中挑选出6家参与第一阶段基于性能的软件竞标，计划在2027年夏季确定最终中标方。
The service chose six vendors in June for the software’s performance-based competition for Increment 1 with the aim of selecting one by summer 2027.