Autonomous flight company Merlin has won a contract to prepare its self-flying technology for installation on the US military’s C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.
The US$8.9 million task order from US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) funds the next phase of Merlin’s C-130J autonomy program, following completion of its preliminary and critical design reviews. The phase covers system integration, ground-test preparation, cybersecurity approval and airworthiness acceptance to support future flight demonstrations.
Merlin’s technology, the Merlin Pilot system, is designed to reduce crew workload across all phases of flight. The company says the work will show how the system can ease the demands on C-130J aircrews and expand the aircraft’s operational capacity.
The work will advance integration and validation through flight control law tuning, human factors evaluations, failure mode testing and simulated flight-test dry runs to verify how the system behaves and whether it is ready before installation on the aircraft. It will also update test plans, procedures, verification matrices and safety assessments for government review ahead of ground testing.
Engineers will also advance the cybersecurity assessment and documentation required for an Interim Authorization to Test (IATT), and delivers an updated airworthiness plan to support the flight-test demonstrations.
Matt George, CEO and founder of Merlin, said, “This next phase puts our design to the test, validating how the system performs, how crews interact with it, and how it responds in off-nominal conditions. Through our work with USSOCOM, we’re building a path from autonomy development to practical mission capability, giving aircrews greater support and commanders more flexibility in how they employ their aircraft.”
The C-130J program sits under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with USSOCOM worth more than US$100 million, which opens the way for Merlin to integrate its system across the wider US special operations fixed-wing fleet. Merlin completed the preliminary design review in March 2026 and the critical design review in June 2026, moving the program from design development toward aircraft integration.
Merlin describes itself as building “the operating system of record for autonomous flight” and says the Merlin Pilot system has flown hundreds of autonomous flights across a range of aircraft types and mission profiles. The company has also partnered with Honeywell on autonomy for fixed-wing military aircraft.
The C-130J is one of the most widely exported military aircraft in service, flown by around 23 operator nations, including the US, UK, Australia, India, Italy, Canada, Israel and Egypt, which joined the fleet in 2024. Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 500 of the aircraft.
