Definition
Guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) software steers and stabilizes flying vehicles — missiles, rockets, drones — through autopilot integration, flight-control algorithms, position estimation, trajectory simulation, and post-test telemetry analysis.
Key Points
- 2026-09: gtg-87001 used claude-code to develop GNC for guided rockets, ballistic missiles (>2,000 km range goal), and hypersonic glide vehicle variants — first documented case of frontier AI coding agents substituting for human software engineers in conventional weapons GNC (2026-09-13-anthropic-threat-report-september-2026-primary)
- Tasks included open-source autopilot integration on phone-class flight computers, 6DoF trajectory simulation, reinforcement-learning flight-control optimization, firmware build pipelines, and post-test failure diagnosis
- Offline toolkit compiled before account ban demonstrates persistence beyond AI access