+49 2641 3703 – 0 +49 2641 3703 – 199 info@moench-group.com

Second Dynetics GREMLINS Air Vehicle Successfully Tested

Airborne Recovery Tests to Follow by Year End

Dynetics, a Leidos company, successfully tested a second X-61A GREMLINS Air Vehicle (GAV), as well as the GREMLINS airborne recovery system, last month for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The series of tests focused on risk reduction, as well as system and subsystem performance verification, in preparation for an airborne recovery test later this year. The overarching goal of the Gremlins Program, managed by DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, is to demonstrate aerial launch and recovery of multiple low-cost reusable UAS. The test series involved all segments of the GREMLINS Demonstration System, including GAVs, the launch and recovery system, the airborne operator control station and the GREMLINS C3 system.

We have taken a major step forward towards accomplishing airborne recovery, and we are ever so close to achieving it,” commented Tim Keeter, Program Manager for the Dynetics GREMLINS team. “Our second GAV flown to date performed very well, which increases our confidence in the X-61A. And for the first time, we rendezvoused and flew in close formation with the recovery C-130 multiple times using the GREMLINS Autonomous Docking System (GADS). Multiple captive tests were also conducted for the first time, with actively-controlled GAVs attached to the stabilized towed docking device. This demonstrated the ability of the recovery system to safely reel in and stow GAVs once they have docked. The data collected from these tests will provide the necessary information to perform final tuning of GADS.”

Test flight time was 2h 12min, during which the air vehicle flew in formation with the C-130 from as close as 125ft behind and 125ft below the C-130’s position. At the end of the test, the GAV was recovered on the ground using the parachute system. “While we successfully tested both the GAV and recovery system, we decided during the mission to stop short of docking. We now have additional data, which will help us tune the system and further validate our models. These results are encouraging and present higher confidence to achieve airborne recovery in our next flight,” explained Dynetics’ X-61A Chief Engineer, Brandon Hiller.

The roll-on/roll-off recovery system (which includes the physical structure, the docking structure, the towed, attitude-controlled ‘Bullet’ and the in-flight stowage system) performed as designed. Marvin Hill, Chief Engineer for the X-61A recovery system, stated “As we expected, reeling the GAV in while docked on the Bullet, and then securing it inside the C-130 cargo bay, is a safe and benign activity. It’s like fishing in the sky, except the fish weighs 1,200 pounds.”

This is what we’ve been working towards for the past four years, and we are eager to advance the GREMLINS system’s capabilities for DARPA and the warfighter even further. Rapid and reliable airborne recovery is a game-changing capability for autonomous, distributed airborne operations. Our entire team brought about a disciplined test demonstration and moved the program forward. We believe GREMLINS will advance operational flexibility and effectiveness in the near future,” Keeter added.

The Dynetics GREMLINS team consists of: Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Williams International, Applied Systems Engineering, Inc., Kutta Technologies, Inc., Moog Inc., Sierra Nevada Corporation, Systima Technologies, Inc. and Airborne Systems. Additional support for the flight test included Dugway Proving Grounds’ Rapid Integration and Acceptance Center (RIAC), International Air Response and High-G Technologies.

The Dynetics team was one of four companies awarded a Phase 1 contract for the GREMLINS programme in 2016: Phase 2 was awarded in March 2017 to two of the initial four performers, and Phase 3 followed in April 2018, when Dynetics was named the top performer. The maiden flight of the X-61A occurred in November 2019.

Related Posts

Publish date

08/27/2020

Sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date.

News

Air

C4ISR

Components / Systems

Cyber

Defence Business

Homeland Security

International Security

Land

Latin America (Spanish)

Logistics

Naval

Training & Simulation

Space

Special Forces

Unmanned

Publications

Contact Us

Contact Info

Mönch Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
Christine-Demmer-Straße 7
53474 Bad Neuenahr – Ahrweiler

+49 2641 3703 – 0

+49 2641 3703 - 199

Follow On

X