Four companies will explore rapidly- and mass-produced drone concepts under the Enterprise Test Vehicle program being conducted by the Air Force’s Armament Directorate and the Defense Innovation Unit. The concepts, which are to fly this summer, are to make use of commercial, off-the-shelf, or easy-to-obtain ...
The Air Force has handed out a $334 million contract to contractor Leidos for “Mayhem,” the secretive program aimed at developing a larger class of hypersonic system, the Pentagon announced Dec. 16. The contract comes more than two years after the Air Force first began asking ...
The Gremlins drone swarming technology program needs to prove a C-130 can reel in four flying drones in 30 minutes before moving on to testing potential uses for the system. If successful, follow-on testing likely will demonstrate the ability to operate with payloads and a ...
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency crashed one of its four remaining Gremlins air-launched drones during a flight test in October but not without demonstrating some of the autonomous swarming program’s key objectives. In tests, the X-61 Gremlins Air Vehicles, or GAVs, launch from the ...
The United States is on a crash course to field prototype hypersonic weapons within three years, with more elaborate and mature systems to follow soon after. Flight tests will ramp up quickly this year, with follow-on tests as frequently as every six weeks over the ...
Dynetics and its partners are planning next steps for the Gremlins drone swarming program after the aircraft failed to dock with a C-130 in recent flight tests. A third round of demonstrations began Oct. 28 at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The three X-61As individually tried ...
Dynetics and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are moving forward with their Gremlins drone swarming program after flying a small unmanned aircraft for the first time in late November. The X-61A flew with and launched from a C-130 wing at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. ...
Dynetics is designing new unmanned aerial vehicles for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Gremlins program, which aims to advance the concept of drone swarms in combat. Dynetics courtesy photo. Dynetics is preparing to fly its new drone for the...