SandboxAQ completed a test of its magnetic navigation system, known as AQNav, on Northrop Grumman’s Lumberjack Group 3 unmanned aircraft system. The Lumberjack, developed in under 14 months from its first flight, served as an attritable, one‑way‑attack platform for the trial. During the test, SandboxAQ’s hardware‑agnostic software processed sensor data in real time, applied physics‑based models to determine positioning, ran on existing onboard compute infrastructure and supported open‑architecture interfaces.
The event was reported as the first instance of a MagNav system being used on an attritable platform and the first time AQNav was paired with a visual navigation system on a one‑way‑attack drone. Luca Ferrara, General Manager of Navigation at SandboxAQ, said the engineers were able to install the AQNav software into existing systems in less than an hour.
AQNav has undergone flight testing with military, government and commercial aerospace partners, including Airbus and Boeing, since 2023. SandboxAQ has collaborated with the United States Air Force for more than three years, conducting tests aboard C‑17 Globemaster III and C‑130J Super Hercules aircraft. The technology also participates in the Defense Innovation Unit’s Transition of Quantum Sensing program, which evaluates MagNav capabilities for future military autonomous systems.
