Honeywell Aerospace expands role across the defense autonomy ecosystem

PHOENIX, Sep 14, 2026 – Honeywell Aerospace (NASDAQ: HONA) is expanding its role across the rapidly evolving defense autonomy ecosystem, providing propulsion, power, avionics, navigation, communications and mission systems technologies that enable autonomous aircraft and unmanned systems to move from development to operational deployment.

As defense organizations accelerate investment in autonomous aviation, unmanned systems and distributed operations, developers are increasingly seeking proven technologies that reduce development risk, support mission requirements and accelerate fielding. Honeywell Aerospace helps meet that demand through a growing portfolio of collaborations spanning propulsion, mission systems and trusted autonomy. In addition to continued collaborations with established defense and aerospace manufacturers, Honeywell Aerospace is supporting a growing range of companies across the defense autonomy and innovation ecosystem.

"Autonomous aircraft represent one of the most significant shifts in military aviation in decades," said Matt Milas, president of Defense & Space at Honeywell Aerospace. "While platform designs continue to evolve, the need for trusted propulsion, power, navigation, communications and mission systems remains constant. Honeywell Aerospace helps customers accelerate development and reduce risk by integrating proven aerospace technologies that can move more quickly from concept to operational capability."

Recent collaborations demonstrate how Honeywell Aerospace technologies are being integrated across a range of autonomous and unmanned aviation applications:

• Honeywell Aerospace has successfully demonstrated its SkyShot autonomous aircraft propulsion platform, showcasing an innovative, adaptive and scalable propulsion solution for unmanned aircraft in the 800- to 2,800-pound-thrust class. The demonstration validated key technologies for next-generation autonomous missions and reinforced Honeywell Aerospace's ability to provide trusted propulsion systems that help accelerate the deployment of autonomous aircraft for defense customers.
• Honeywell Aerospace recently demonstrated resilient navigation capabilities through flight testing of its Kestrel-enabled navigation technologies, highlighting the company's ability to provide alternative navigation (AltNav) and resilient positioning, navigation and timing solutions for operations in GPS-denied and contested environments. The demonstration underscores growing demand for trusted navigation technologies that support autonomous operations when traditional signals are unavailable or degraded.
• Swarm Aero selected Honeywell Aerospace's proven TPE331 turboprop engine to power its Group 5 unmanned aircraft system, pairing a production-ready propulsion platform with a next-generation autonomous aircraft designed for scalability and affordability.
• Shield AI and Honeywell Aerospace announced plans to develop a trusted autonomy software stack integrating Honeywell Aerospace's Anthem™ avionics, navigation and sensing technologies with Shield AI's Hivemind software development kit. The collaboration aims to help accelerate deployment of autonomous aircraft by combining mission autonomy software with certified aerospace systems and trusted architectures. The collaboration also supports growing industry demand for trusted autonomy and resilient autonomous operations in increasingly complex mission environments.
• Enigma Aerospace and Honeywell Aerospace are exploring integration of advanced navigation, communications, electronic warfare and mission systems technologies into Enigma's Phoenix autonomous logistics aircraft, supporting greater capability and mission flexibility for autonomous operations.
• Near Earth Autonomy, Honeywell Aerospace, Moog and XP Services have completed a year of integration and flight testing on the RUC-60, an optionally crewed UH-60L Black Hawk conversion for contested logistics missions, with a full slate of mission flight testing planned through 2026. Honeywell Aerospace is supplying its certified Anthem™ avionics suite along with resilient navigation and Satcom capabilities designed to support autonomous operation in GPS- and communications-denied environments.
• Hermeus is working with Honeywell Aerospace technologies across next-generation high-speed autonomous aircraft development, leveraging Honeywell Aerospace's expertise in avionics and other aircraft and mission systems to accelerate platform maturity and operational readiness.
• General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Honeywell Aerospace continue to explore opportunities to support advanced unmanned aircraft capabilities through proven aerospace technologies that enhance mission performance, reliability and scalability.

As autonomous aircraft assume increasingly complex missions in contested environments, the challenge extends beyond airframe development. Future systems must generate greater onboard power, operate for longer durations, support advanced mission systems and maintain resilient navigation and communications capabilities under demanding operational conditions. Growing interest in alternative navigation solutions, including AltNav technologies, is also driving demand for resilient positioning, navigation and timing capabilities that can operate effectively in GPS-denied and contested environments.

Honeywell Aerospace is uniquely positioned to address those requirements through an integrated portfolio spanning propulsion, electrical power, avionics, navigation, communications, flight controls, actuation and thermal management technologies, environmental control systems, and advanced actuation controls, helping customers reduce complexity while accelerating progress from experimentation to deployment.

"The future operating environment will demand speed, scale and adaptability," Milas said. "Our role is to provide trusted technologies that enable autonomous aircraft to perform from day one while giving customers confidence that they can scale those capabilities across a wide range of missions and platforms. From trusted autonomy software and AltNav capabilities to propulsion, environmental controls and mission-critical systems, Honeywell Aerospace is helping enable the next generation of autonomous defense aviation."