Northrop Grumman Names First Beacon Testbed Partners

Northrop Grumman Corporation has announced six initial partners for its Beacon autonomous testbed ecosystem: Applied Intuition, Autonodyne, Merlin, Red 6, Shield AI, and SoarTech, an Accelint company. The partners will test and refine autonomous systems using the Scaled Composites-built Model 437 aircraft, combined with Northrop Grumman’s flight autonomy hardware and integration capabilities, in a series of demonstrations scheduled for this year.

Beacon is designed as an open-access testbed aligned with government reference architectures. It integrates Northrop Grumman’s autonomous software and hardware to test real-world mission scenarios, aiming to accelerate software deployment, reduce risk, and support readiness for future aircraft programs. The platform builds on decades of company experience and more than 500,000 autonomous flight hours.

“Beacon is about collaboration across industry between companies of all sizes and expertise,” said Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president of Aeronautics Systems at Northrop Grumman.