The U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm is planning to establish a proving ground dedicated to testing and experimenting with autonomous technologies and capabilities, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.
Lt. Col. Bryan Ralston, lead of the autonomy prime program at AFWERX, said the technology accelerator has begun building the infrastructure for the testing site to increase “throughput and capability.”
The proving ground will be part of AFWERX’s autonomy prime portfolio that is set to fully launch at the beginning of the next fiscal year. The program is intended to facilitate the collaborative development of autonomy technologies for navigation and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.
Ralston plans to carry out up to two tests per week to evaluate new systems and capabilities in the proving ground.
AFWERX began seeking industry comments on the autonomy prime program in September 2022.
