AFRICOM to Test Autonomous Cessna Grand Caravan Casualty Evacuation Aircraft in Morocco
Why It MattersMilitary autonomy programs are moving from large transport and tanker aircraft toward small single-engine utility types, opening a government-funded route for pilotless operation of light turboprops.
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) will demonstrate a potential autonomous casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) capability in Morocco, using a Cessna Model 208B Grand Caravan fitted with Merlin Labs' artificial-intelligence copilot, the Merlin Pilot. Merlin Labs announced the planned demonstration, which falls under the initial phase of AFRICOM's Autonomous Casualty Evacuation Industry Technology Challenge. The test is scheduled for early U.S. government fiscal year 2027, and AFRICOM has awarded Merlin a $500,000 contract to support it.
The demonstration will cover the full mission: tasking and flight planning, autonomous departure and en route flight to an austere casualty collection site, simulated patient loading, and an autonomous return flight and landing at the designated location. Merlin says the system plans a route from the operator's tasking, replans dynamically around hazards, communicates with air traffic control using natural language processing, and continues along its authorized plan if a communications link is lost, without a remote ground station or flight crew. The Grand Caravan's large cargo door and flat-floor cabin allow ground-level litter loading without rotor wash, winching or special equipment, and the cabin will be configured with an air ambulance medical module providing oxygen, power and mounts for patient monitoring.
Merlin says the AFRICOM area of responsibility spans vast distances, and security threats can prevent access to nearby medical facilities, making patient transport time-critical and logistically complex. Conventional CASEVAC relies on crewed aircraft, while remotely piloted systems require persistent command-and-control links that may be unavailable in austere or contested environments. Merlin has separately received millions of dollars in U.S. military funding for autonomy work, including C-130-type aircraft for U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Air Force's KC-135 tanker fleet, and says the Merlin Pilot has flown on at least four aircraft types.
