A-GRA: The Air Force's Autonomy Reference Architecture

Part of the Open Architecture Field Guide. All information is derived from unclassified, publicly releasable (Distribution A) sources.

A-GRA, the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture, is the Air Force standard for mission-autonomy software. It defines the interfaces an autonomous aircraft's mission software uses, so the autonomy can be sourced separately from the air vehicle and moved between platforms. It is the architecture behind the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

What it does

An uncrewed combat aircraft still needs to do the mission-level work a pilot does in a crewed one: execute the plan, reprioritize, and coordinate with other aircraft. That work is done by mission-autonomy software. Historically that software has been built into the aircraft, which ties the autonomy to one airframe and one vendor.

A-GRA separates the two. It defines the interfaces mission autonomy uses to talk to the air vehicle, to the mission systems, to peer aircraft, and to command and control. With those interfaces fixed, the government can buy the autonomy software on its own and run it on different platforms. The Air Force calls this approach "mission autonomy sold separately."

Spectral Autonomy

How it connects

A-GRA describes the autonomy as the center of a small set of standard interfaces:

• Vehicle interface: how the autonomy commands and reads the air vehicle.
• Mission-systems interface: how it tasks sensors and payloads and receives their reports.
• Peer interface: how it coordinates with other autonomous platforms.
• Command-and-control interface: how it takes direction from, and reports to, human control.

Because the interfaces are standard, an autonomy package built to A-GRA can be lifted from one aircraft and run on another without rewriting how it talks to the vehicle or the mission system.

Where it sits

A-GRA is one of the Air Force's Government Reference Architectures, a sibling of AMS-GRA, GARA, and W-GRA. Each is a separate architecture owned by a different office. A-GRA covers the autonomy; AMS-GRA covers the mission systems the autonomy tasks.

Spectral Autonomy

Where it appears

A-GRA is the mission-autonomy architecture used on the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototypes, the General Atomics YFQ-42A and the Anduril YFQ-44A. Each flies a different vendor's autonomy software over the same government-owned interfaces.