Crane for small ships to launch 900 lb UAVs and Parafoil for 500 meter long antennas and sensors

DARPA aiming to share breakthrough, low-cost technologies to improve launch and retrieval of unmanned aerial systems and maritime situational awareness.

DARPA and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), seeks to give forward-deployed small ships the unprecedented capacity to serve as mobile launch and recovery platforms for medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS). These systems would provide long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and other capabilities over greater distances and time periods than helicopters and would require far less dedicated infrastructure resources than conventional fixed-wing manned and unmanned aircraft.

DARPA’s SideArm effort seeks to create a self-contained, portable apparatus able to horizontally launch and retrieve UAS of up to 900 pounds from trucks, ships and fixed ground facilities. The small-footprint system is designed to enable rapid setup and controlled decelerations and adapt to current and future UAS. Based on subscale tests last summer, DARPA will conduct further risk reduction and hardware testing this year, and then plans to test recovery of two different aircraft types at full scale.

DARPA’s SideArm effort seeks to create a self-contained, portable apparatus able to horizontally launch and retrieve UAS of up to 900 pounds from trucks, ships and fixed ground facilities. DARPA developed SideArm as part of Tern, a joint program between DARPA and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research that seeks to enable forward-deployed small ships to serve as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial systems.

Read more »