RTX businesses, Collins Aerospace and Raytheon, showcased innovative capabilities at the U.S. Army’s Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE). The demonstration highlighted the integration of collaborative vehicle autonomy with human oversight, utilizing “launched effects”—small, uncrewed aircraft that can be deployed from various platforms.
During the event, the RTX team presented two collaborative autonomy solutions designed to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess a range of threats. Collins Aerospace demonstrated its RapidEdge mission system and software toolset, serving as the “brains” behind a team of uncrewed aerial vehicles equipped with various payloads, acting as launched effects surrogates. Raytheon showcased autonomy capabilities previously developed through the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment government program, alongside capabilities from the combat-proven Coyote family of unmanned aircraft systems. Both solutions successfully shared data, illustrating the effectiveness of modular open system architectures and mesh networks.
“RTX’s demonstration at EDGE showed how autonomous sensing and effects can extend the Army’s reach, delivering sensing and effects in anti-access or area denial environments,” said Ryan Bunge, vice president and general manager for Collins’ C4I&A portfolio. “Leveraging capabilities across RTX, we were able to show interoperability between our collaborative autonomy solutions, demonstrating the power and long-term benefits of open system architectures.”
The mission system translated the human operator’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance objectives into actionable plans, establishing behavioral parameters aligned with the Army’s mission execution protocols. The team effectively executed a threat detection mission, making real-time decisions even when communication links with ground operators were interrupted. This validated the autonomy of launched effects in supporting the Army’s operational capabilities.
The demonstration was sponsored by the U.S. Army Futures Command Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, aimed at enhancing the Army’s targeting, reconnaissance, and lethality through manned and unmanned teamwork. EDGE is part of the U.S. Army Future Command’s campaign to drive transformational advancements across the Army’s modernization priorities.
