Honeywell Aerospace and Enigma Aerospace, Inc. today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore integrating advanced mission systems onto Enigma's Phoenix Series Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a runway-independent, autonomous logistics aircraft designed to operate in GPS-denied, communications-degraded and otherwise contested environments.

The collaboration will explore Honeywell Aerospace's navigation, mission systems and electronic warfare capabilities for integration onto the Phoenix platform.

The MOU identifies a set of focus areas the companies intend to explore together, including resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and alternative navigation systems; defensive electronic warfare; secure command, control and communications; defensive cyber; and small form-factor mission systems and payloads for unmanned platforms.

As an initial step, the companies plan to evaluate Honeywell Aerospace's VersaWave SATCOM unit, Ground Control Station, and ONEBOX flight controller on Enigma's Phoenix aircraft, with additional Honeywell Aerospace products to be explored as the collaboration progresses.

"Autonomous systems operating in contested environments live or die by the quality of their navigation, communications and electronic warfare capabilities. Without the ability to survive and operate in these environments, you're just throwing metal down range, and that's precisely where Honeywell Aerospace has decades of proven performance, from the most demanding crewed missions flown today to the unmanned platforms defining tomorrow's battlespace," said Matt Milas, President, Defense and Space, Honeywell Aerospace. "We're proud to be a mission systems partner that helps Phoenix get to the warfighter faster. This collaboration reflects how we think about the autonomous systems market: find the right platforms, go deep, and build toward scale."

"Operating in contested environments means assuming traditional navigation aids and communications will be denied, degraded, or disrupted, with a threat picture that can change by the minute," said Reese Mozer, Chief Executive Officer of Enigma Aerospace. "Honeywell Aerospace brings deep aerospace and defence experience across exactly the systems that enable autonomous logistics to survive at the edge. We're looking forward to exploring how their navigation and mission systems capabilities could support Phoenix as we work toward fielding platforms for warfighters and, eventually, commercial logistics providers."

Under the MOU, the companies intend to pursue joint development and integration activities in the months ahead, with the goal of bringing select capabilities to operational use for U.S. and allied defence customers, in full compliance with applicable law.