Air-Launched Glider Delivery Vehicle for Standoff

摘要

NAWCAD is developing the X-Glider, an expendable aircraft-launched glider vehicle for the air deployment of sensors into denied or contested littoral areas while providing a safe standoff capability to the manned launch aircraft. The X-Glider is the size of a MK-46 torpedo and large enough to accommodate a range of payloads. It can be launched from the wing stations or bomb bay of tactical aircraft. Once launched, the X-Glider's autopilot autonomously guides the unpowered, 14-to-i glide-ratio vehicle to a predetermined location using GPS to achieve an aircraft standoff distance of 50 nmi, or more, from the hostile environment. The X-Glider is being developed under contract for NAWOAD by AeroVironment, Inc., of Simi Valley, California, and is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.