More than 200 members of the aerospace community gathered on June 13 in Washington, D.C. for the 104thpresentation of the Robert J. Collier Trophy to the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) Team. The team, comprised of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, the F-35 Joint Program Office, the F-16 Joint System Program Office, the 461st and 416th Flight Test Squadrons, NASA, and the Defense Safety Oversight Council, was awarded the 2018 Collier Trophy for “… successfully completing a rapid design, integration, and flight test of critical, life-saving technology for the worldwide F-35 fleet, expanding the technology for F-16 users and civil aviation, and setting certification standards that marked aviation's entry into the age of autonomy.”
Administered by the National Aeronautic Association and displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, the Collier Trophy is awarded annually “…for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America” in the preceding year. At seven and a half feet tall and 525 pounds, the trophy represents a timeline of air and space achievements marking major events in the history of flight. The trophy, which travels from the Smithsonian one night each year to take part in the awards ceremony, served as the centerpiece of the event honoring the Auto GCAS Team.
Auto GCAS is a complex series of autonomous decision making and collision avoidance algorithms designed to prevent controlled flight into terrain mishaps by executing an automatic recovery maneuver when impact with the ground is imminent. Since the system entered service with the U.S. Air Force in late 2014, Auto GCAS has been credited with seven saves – eight pilots and seven F-16s.
The result of a partnership between government and industry, Auto GCAS advances autonomous technologies and continues to positively impact the aviation community by ensuring pilots and fleets operating around the globe always return home safely.
Mark Wilkins, Senior Aviation Safety Analyst, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Force Safety and Occupational Health accepted the Collier Trophy on behalf of the Auto GCAS Team. “In the not too distant future, this technology will be like smart phones today – we will take it for granted and wonder how we ever survived without it,” affirmed Wilkins. “And it all started with a small group in this room and a vision.”
When Robert J. Collier commissioned the trophy in 1910, he may never have dreamed it would be awarded to a technology as advanced as the Auto GCAS. The timeless value of his trophy ensures each recipient is marked with a historic celebration. Congratulations to the Auto GCAS Team for the extraordinary accomplishment that is the life-saving Auto GCAS technology.
