combat aircraft

TAKING A LOOK BEHIND THE HEADLINES

TAKING A LOOK BEHIND THE HEADLINES

BYBY ROBERT BECKHUSEN ROBERT BECKHUSEN

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9494 June 2018 July 2018 ////^ http://www.combataircraft.netwww.combataircraft.net

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE

OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY

BY DAVID AXE

US AIR

FORCE EYES

‘DRONE

MOTHERSHIPS’

T

HE US MILITARY is moving ahead

with development of a new drone

that launches from a cargo airlifter

and, at the end of its mission, can

return to the same aircraft for a mid-

air recovery.

The new Gremlin drone could support

surveillance and attack missions, according to

its developer, Alabama-based Dynetics. In April

2018, the Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency (DARPA) awarded Dynetics a two-year,

$40-million contract to design and build several

Gremlins.

The company expects to test the new drones

with a C-130 mothership in late 2019.

Gremlin is part of a wide-ranging e ort by

DARPA and other military agencies to develop

small, inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs) that can enhance the capabilities of

existing warplanes.

The Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities O ce

is working on soda can-size, single-use Perdix

spy drones that launch from the cha and

 are dispensers on manned  ghters. DARPA is

developing a ‘ ying missile rail’ — in essence,

a self-propelled robotic weapons pylon that

can detach from a  ghter while carrying its

own missiles.

Meanwhile, the O ce of Naval Research is

creating a 12ft UAV called Dash-X that would

launch from EA-18G Growler electronic attack

aircraft and assist with the suppression of enemy

air defenses — SEAD.

And in 2016 the US Air Force gave San Diego-

based Kratos $41 million to design a 30ft-long,

‘runway-independent’, attack drone called the

Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft. LCAA could launch

by way of a catapult and, according to the

military, should be cheap enough for fast mass

production.

Kratos already builds BQM-167, MQM-178 and

BQM-177 target drones for the US military and

has self-funded development of the XQ-222

attack drone. In March 2018, the Pentagon gave

Kratos permission to export an armed version

of the BQM-167 that it calls Mako. The Air Force

Research Laboratories are testing the Mako as a

potential ‘robotic wingman’ for manned  ghters.

It should come as no surprise that Dynetics

tapped Kratos to provide the airframe for the

Gremlin system. ‘Kratos will lead fabrication,

structural and sub-system testing, assembly,

integration and test of prototype Gremlin UAVs’,

the company announced.

But the most di cult part of the Gremlin

development e ort is the launch-and-recovery

system, a Kratos spokesperson said. Dynetics is

working on a system similar to the reelable, hose-

style refueling gear that’s standard on US Navy

and Marine Corps aerial tankers.

‘The Dynetics solution involves deploying a

towed, stabilized capture device below and

away from the C-130’, Dynetics explained in a

release. ‘The air vehicle docks with the device

much like an airborne refueling operation. Once

docked and powered o , the air vehicle is raised

to the C-130, where it is mechanically secured

and stowed.’

The transport could reel the drone into the

cargo bay or stow it underwing, Dynetics stated.

If the recovery hardware works on a C-130, it

should also be compatible with other aircraft, the

company added.

Dynetics program manager Tim Keeter hinted

that Gremlins, if they actually enter front-line

service, might someday carry weapons. ‘The

unmanned air vehicles utilized in these future

operations will carry a variety of di erent

sensors and other payloads’, Keeter said in a

company release.

‘The ability for a single, manned aircraft to stand

o from danger yet manage multiple air vehicles

equipped with sensors and other payloads lends

itself well to enhanced support of tactical strike,

reconnaissance/surveillance and close air support

missions’, Dynetics stated.

‘When they complete their mission, they

return to airborne manned platforms to be

recovered to a forward operating base where

they can be quickly refurbished and put back

into the  ght. The potential to overwhelm an

adversary continuously with multiple volleys is

tremendous.’

Dynetics

program

manager Tim Keeter

hinted that Gremlins,

if they actually enter

front-line service,

might someday carry

weapons

An artist’s impression of Gremlins being launched from a

C-130 transport. Once the Gremlins have completed their

mission, the Hercules will retrieve them in the air. Dynetics

94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94 20/05/2018 11:23