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SAS 2017: General Atomics Showcasing its Small Unmanned Aircraft System for Gremlins Program

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Sea Air Space 2017 Online Show Coverage - General Atomics
 
 
 
SAS 2017: General Atomics Showcasing its Small Unmanned Aircraft System for Gremlins Program
 
At the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition currently held near Washington D.C., General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is showcasing its Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS). SUAS is designed to be air-launched and air-recovered from multiple hosts platforms (C-130, MQ-9B, B-52, B-1, F-16, F-15E, F-18...)
     
General Atomics Small Unmanned Aircraft System full scale model at Sea Air Space 2017.
     
SUAS can be fitted with various sensors (EO/IR, SAR, EW) and is capable of a 300 nautical miles range with 1 hour of loiter endurance.

General Atomics announced two weeks ago that DARPA has continued to contract the company for Phase 2 of the Gremlins program. The Gremlins program seeks to develop innovative technologies and systems enabling aircraft to launch volleys of low-cost, reusable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and safely and reliably retrieve them in mid-air. Such systems, or "gremlins," would be deployed with a mixture of mission payloads capable of generating a variety of effects in a distributed and coordinated manner, providing U.S. forces with improved operational flexibility at a lower cost than is possible with conventional platforms.
     
General Atomics Small Unmanned Aircraft System full scale model at Sea Air Space 2017.
     
GA-ASI was awarded a contract for Phase 1 of the program in March 2016. While Phase 1 was conceptual in nature, Phase 2 aims to mature the design and perform in-flight risk reduction testing for the C-130-based recovery system. Activities will include Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the aircraft and recovery system, ground testing to validate key technologies, and flight test to demonstrate safety and recovery system performance. The program is expected to culminate in an air launch and recovery demonstration in 2019.

The Gremlin aircraft is one in a line of new Small UAS (SUAS) being developed by GA-ASI. The vehicle is capable of one-hour time-on-station at a range of 300 nmi while carrying a modular 60-pound payload.