Gremlins mid-air retrieval demonstration set for fall

摘要

The next flight test for the X-61A airborne retrieval system is slated for this fall, during which Dynetics' Gremlins team lead said the program will showcase repeated recoveries of a single drone and more amid what he anticipates will be the first successful demonstration of the effort. The demonstration - which would follow a failed push to employ the recovery system last October, leading officials to extend the testing series - is also poised to include the long-anticipated recovery of multiple drones safely at an "operational rate of speed," or within half an hour, Gremlins program manager at Leidos subsidiary Dynetics. '[The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's] objective has always been to recover four in about 30 minutes," he told Inside Defense last week during the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference here. "So, we're prepared to do that." The latest test is slated to occur in the year after officials came within "inches" of connecting the drones with the "docking bullet" system extended from a C-130, meant to capture the vehicles in mid-air. Still, the aircraft were ultimately able to safely land on the ground after validating all the autonomous formation flying positions and safety features during the program's test last fall.