The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency intends to meet with interested contractors next month to discuss a new program aimed at building a small unmanned air system that would deploy and recover from a vessel’s flight deck or an austere ground site without requiring additional equipment.
DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office will sponsor the meeting with potential proposers on Sept. 20 to provide details of the forthcoming Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-less Launch and Recovery project.
The AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) program aims to develop and flight demonstrate an X-plane with the critical technologies required for a leap-ahead in long endurance, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned air system (UAS) performance. The UAS would be able to launch and recover from ship flight decks and small austere land locations in adverse weather without additional infrastructure equipment, thus enabling expeditionary deployments. Unlike large VTOL systems, the small UAS size would allow many aircraft to be stored and operated from one ship creating a tactical beyond-line-of-site (BLOS) multi-intelligence sensor network capability.
DARPA is requiring participation in an in-person-only expo-style event on the same day after its Proposers Day that will take place at a Strategic Analysis facility in Arlington, Virginia, and will be broadcasted via Microsoft Teams for Government for remote participants.
Sources: DARPA; GovConWire