General Atomics leverages AWS to revolutionize autonomous systems

In a groundbreaking demonstration, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and General Atomics Integrated Intelligence, Inc. (GA-Intelligence) showcased the power of cloud computing in advancing autonomous air capabilities. By leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS), General Atomics (GA) successfully integrated cutting-edge technologies to demonstrate unmanned air-to-air engagement. The demonstration—which took place on July 8, 2025—marks a significant milestone in the evolution of autonomous military systems and highlights the critical role of cloud computing in modern defense operations.

GA-ASI’s MQ-20 Avenger

The challenge: Streamlining real-time data integration while maintaining compliance

GA-ASI and GA-Intelligence faced a complex challenge in developing a secure, scalable, and real-time data streaming solution to provide operators with enhanced situational awareness. The primary obstacle was integrating various data sources, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) information, into their Optix command and control (C2) system deployed at a remote facility. Traditional data integration methods resulted in latencies of up to 30 seconds, significantly impacting operational effectiveness.

The project involved handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and data subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), requiring a cloud environment that could help GA meet stringent compliance requirements.

AWS solution: Secure and scalable streaming with AWS GovCloud (US)

To address these challenges, GA implemented Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) and AWS VPN to stream ADS-B data from AWS GovCloud (US) to GA’s remote facility. The solution reduced data latency to less than 100 milliseconds and supported over 1,000 concurrent data streams, providing near real-time situational awareness to operators.

AWS GovCloud (US) played a crucial role in this implementation, offering an isolated AWS Region designed to host sensitive data and regulated workloads in the cloud. This environment allowed GA-ASI and GA-Intelligence to meet their strict compliance requirements for handling CUI and ITAR-controlled data.

Dr. Tim Emerick, IRAD director at GA-Intelligence, credits AWS GovCloud services as important to the success of the exercise: “Through close collaboration with AWS, we’ve proven that secure, scalable cloud infrastructure can power mission-critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and C2 at the tactical edge. Using AWS GovCloud services, GA-Intelligence delivered real-time global situational awareness to the aircraft, fusing terrestrial and space-based data within Optix.C2 to enable autonomous reasoning and unified tasking across domains.”

Figure 1: Architecture diagram showing AWS MSK data flow from AWS GovCloud (US) to a remote facility, highlighting security and compliance features

Demonstration success: Autonomous operations in action

The demonstration featured a GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger unmanned jet acting as a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) surrogate, controlled using distributed-edge C2 nodes powered by GA-Intelligence’s Optix.C2 product and third-party Omniview software. These solutions ran on AWS GovCloud (US), maintaining high levels of security and compliance for sensitive military data. During the demonstration, four CCA surrogates—one live and three virtual—successfully conducted autonomous operations.

Michael Atwood, vice president of Advanced Programs at GA-ASI, emphasized: “By leveraging AWS GovCloud (US) environment, we created a robust and compliant data pipeline that ensured our operators had secure access to the most up-to-date information. This real-time data streaming capability, combined with the ability to handle CUI and ITAR data securely, was instrumental in demonstrating the effectiveness of our autonomous systems in a simulated mission scenario.”

Looking ahead: Future innovations

Building on this success, GA-ASI and GA-Intelligence are exploring additional ways to leverage AWS services within the GovCloud (US) environment to enhance their autonomous systems. Future developments include:

• Integration with AWS artificial intelligence (AI) services for improved threat analysis
• Enhanced machine learning (ML) capabilities for autonomous systems
• Advanced data analytics for predictive maintenance, enabling optimal performance of autonomous systems

For defense and national security organizations looking to harness the power of cloud computing for advanced military applications while maintaining strict compliance, this demonstration serves as an example of what’s possible. AWS offers a comprehensive suite of secure, scalable, and innovative solutions that can support the most demanding military operations while maintaining high levels of security and compliance.

To learn more about how AWS can support your defense and national security operations, visit Cloud Computing for U.S. Defense.