Textron unveils autonomous Cessna Sky Courier UX for military resupply

Textron Aviation has unveiled a concept aircraft, the Cessna Sky Courier UX, a twin-turboprop designed to carry supplies autonomously to forces in remote or contested areas.

According to the company, it is meant for situations where roads and conventional supply routes are cut, vulnerable or otherwise unavailable. The design pairs the existing Sky Courier airframe with autonomy software from Merlin. Textron says it wants to study a scalable, autonomous approach to resupplying distributed forces.

The concept would carry a medium payload of up to 2.7 tonnes and operate from unpaved strips. Bob Gibbs, vice president for defense at Textron, said military planners are focusing increasingly on how forces in dispersed and contested areas can be supplied. The concept, he said, reflects the company's effort to test practical answers to real operational problems using existing, certified products with new adaptations.

Textron describes the Sky Courier UX as a flexible addition meant to fill gaps left when standard logistics are constrained. Its presentation suggests one rationale for the pilotless approach: no crew would be harmed, killed or taken prisoner if an aircraft is lost.