Red Cat Holdings announced the successful flight testing of Palantir Technologies’ Visual Navigation (VNav) software integrated into its Black Widow drone, part of the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program. The tests mark the first known demonstration of visual navigation software on a U.S. Army program of record drone.
The Black Widow completed multiple test flights under GPS-denied conditions, demonstrating its ability to navigate using Palantir’s visual-based system. According to Red Cat, the software uses real-time image data and inertial sensors to maintain positional awareness without relying on satellite signals.
“This is a breakthrough moment not just for Red Cat, but for the tactical needs of the Department of War,” said Jeff Thompson, CEO of Red Cat. “Every battlefield is a GPS-denied environment, and this successful test shows that Red Cat and Palantir are delivering a software-driven solution the Army can rely on. It requires no new hardware, is ready to deploy today, and gives warfighters the edge in contested environments.”
Testing was conducted over several days, with flights at altitudes as low as 150 feet and speeds up to 16 mph. The system performed reliably in twilight and low-light conditions and completed a simulated reconnaissance mission without GPS or human control.
Palantir reported that VNav achieved a mean positional error of about seven meters over a 2.7-kilometer route, using only the Black Widow’s existing sensors. “Palantir Visual Navigation performed well in real-world conditions,” said Akash Jain, President and CTO of Palantir USG. “This demonstrates our approach to visual navigation in disrupted environments—delivering intelligent software that adapts, scales across platforms like Black Widow, and supports the Army’s integrated operating systems.”
Red Cat and Palantir are now preparing for a formal U.S. Army demonstration and aim to make VNav a standard capability for all deployed Black Widow systems.
