X-61A Gremlin Air Vehicle second test flight deemed successful
NewsAugust 28, 2020
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a national security solutions provider, announced that the second flight of the X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle (GAV), which took place in July, was a success, satisfying major technical and program milestones while significantly reducing risk.
Gremlins is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program intended to accelerate the Armed Forces’ ability to perform aerial launch and recovery of multiple low-cost, highly reconfigurable, reusable Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs).
Dynetics, a Leidos Company, is the sole prime contractor leading this third phase of the DARPA program. Kratos is a primary member of the Dynetics team as the key contributor to the X-61A Gremlin Air Vehicle design, the airframe production lead, and a part of the flight test support team.
The Gremlins second flight test, completed in just over two hours, was conducted at Dugway Proving Ground near Salt Lake City, Utah. The ultimate program objective is to demonstrate aerial launch and recovery of multiple low-cost reusable UASs.
For this second flight test, the entirety of the Gremlins Demonstration System – including GAVs, the launch and recovery system, airborne operator control station, and Gremlins Command, Control, and Communications system — was successfully demonstrated, according to officials. A key highlight of this event included both formation flight with the C-130 aircraft and a second parachute recovery.
