U.S. Navy Tests CAMP Autonomous Mission Planning Software

The U.S. Navy has successfully demonstrated software that translates human-generated mission plans directly into executable instructions for autonomous combat aircraft, a capability designed to reduce operator workload and accelerate the integration of uncrewed systems into fleet operations.

In a press release issued on September 22, 2026, the Navy announced the successful test of its Collaborative Autonomy Mission Planning (CAMP) system. The demonstration took place during the Gray Flag 2026 test event at the Point Mugu Sea Range in California, utilizing a single General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-20 Avenger as a surrogate aircraft.

Bridging human planning and autonomous execution

The CAMP software allows mission planners to use the established Collaborative Mission Planning Continuum (CMPC) to direct autonomous platforms. This eliminates the requirement to manually translate operational plans into platform-specific code, a process that traditionally requires significant time and specialized technical knowledge.

Capt. Todd “Toby” Keith, Program Manager for the Navy’s Strike Planning & Execution Systems (PMX-281), stated that the demonstration connected current mission planning methods with future autonomous execution.

“CAMP is about making autonomy more usable by integrating into mission environments with both manned and unmanned platforms,” Keith said. “This demonstration showed how we can connect the way operators plan missions today in the CMPC with the way autonomous aircraft will execute those missions. That can reduce the burden on our operators, improve interoperability and help bring collaborative autonomy closer to operational use.”

Building on previous autonomous combat tests

The September 2026 demonstration builds upon the Navy’s Experimental Platform for Intelligent Combat (EPIC) initiative. In September 2025, the Navy partnered with Shield AI under the EPIC program to pilot a Kratos Defense & Security Solutions BQM-177A target drone in GPS-denied environments using the company’s Hivemind technology.

The U.S. military is actively expanding its deployment of uncrewed systems in combat scenarios. In July 2026, the U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59 utilized three Corsair unmanned surface vessels to strike a submarine and maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base in Iran. This marked the first time American forces employed sea drones in active combat operations.

The MQ-20 Avenger utilized in the Point Mugu test also serves as a testbed for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. This dual usage highlights cross-service efforts to develop uncrewed platforms capable of operating alongside human-piloted fighters.

AirPro News analysis

The successful CAMP demonstration represents a critical step in solving one of the primary bottlenecks in autonomous warfare: the human-machine interface. While autonomous flight control has matured significantly, the administrative and technical burden of programming these aircraft for specific, dynamic missions has remained high. By allowing operators to use existing planning architectures like the CMPC, the Navy is lowering the barrier to entry for deploying uncrewed assets.

Questions remain regarding scalability and deployment timelines. The Navy has not publicly disclosed when the CAMP system will reach operational fleet units. The software has currently only been publicly tested on a single MQ-20 surrogate. We expect future testing will need to demonstrate the system’s ability to handle multiple, disparate autonomous platforms simultaneously before it can be considered ready for complex, multi-domain combat environments.

Sources: U.S. Navy