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2020-02-02

Gremlins Programme Completes First Flight Test

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Gremlins programme recently completed the first flight test of its X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle (GAV). The test in late November at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah included one captive-carry mission aboard a C-130A and an airborne launch and free flight lasting just over an hour-and-a-half.

An ability to send large numbers of small unmanned air systems (UASs) with coordinated, distributed capabilities could provide U.S. Forces with improved operational flexibility at much lower cost than is possible with today’s expensive, all-in-one platforms—especially if those unmanned systems could be retrieved for reuse while airborne. To help make that technology a reality, DARPA has launched the Gremlins programme.

The objectives of the recent test included demonstrating a successful launch of the GAV from the C-130, demonstrating a rate capture, wing deployment, cold engine start, and transition to stable, powered flight, and collecting data on GAV subsystem operation and performance.

It also included verifying air and ground-based command and control systems, including data link performance and handovers between air and ground control, deploying the GAV docking arm and demonstrating the flight termination and ground (parachute) recovery of the GAV (demonstration system only – not part of the operational system).

The goal for the third phase of the Gremlins programme is completion of a full-scale technology demonstration series featuring the air recovery of multiple, low-cost, reusable unmanned aerial systems (UASs), or Gremlins. Safety, reliability, and affordability are the key objectives for the system, which would launch groups of UASs from multiple types of military aircraft while out of range from adversary defences. Once Gremlins complete their mission, the transport aircraft would retrieve them in the air and carry them home, where ground crews would prepare them for their next use within 24 hours.

The team met all objectives of the test last November, including gathering data on operation and performance, air and ground-based command and control systems, and flight termination. A parachute anomaly occurred in a recovery sequence that is specific to the test series and not part of the operational plan. At the end of the mission, the engine was shut down and a drogue chute successfully deployed to terminate flight. Unfortunately, one of five in the programme, was lost during the ground recovery sequence due to a failure to extract the main chute. Four vehicles remain operational and available for the test series, which will continue in 2020.

Next Steps

The future for the programme is a full evaluation of the test data, as well as to understand any issues related to the failure for the main parachute to deploy. The team anticipates the second flight test at Dugway in the spring 2020 timeframe to remain on track.

The C-130 is the demonstration platform for the Gremlins programme, but it could reportedly be easily modified for another transport aircraft or other major weapons system. Gremlins also can incorporate several types of sensors up to 150 pounds, and easily integrate technologies to address different types of stakeholders and missions.

The U.S. Air Force designated the Gremlins air vehicle as X-61A in August in recognition of the technical challenges associated with the programme.

A Dynetics-led team is the performer for the Phase 3 demonstration series. Managed out of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO), the overarching goal of Gremlins is to accelerate the ability to perform aerial launch and recovery of volley quantities of low-cost, reusable unmanned aerial systems (UASs). This test is the next step toward the completion of the programme's Phase 3 demonstration objectives, which include a final flight test to demonstrate the ability to recover four GAVs in under 30 minutes.

Tim Keeter, Dynetics Gremlins programme manager, said: "The GAV flew beautifully, and our command and control system kept us in total control of the GAV for the entire flight. The loss of our vehicle validates our decision to build five GAVs for Phase 3; we still have four remaining. Overall, I am proud to see all the hard work pay off and we are excited to continue this momentum towards the first airborne recovery in early 2020."

The Gremlins team celebrated a number of milestones in 2019 including a successful flight test of the docking system in February. In March, they executed the first flight of the GAV avionics system, installed onboard the Calspan Variable Stability System (VSS) Lear Jet as a dress rehearsal for this November test. Dynetics also hosted a stakeholder's day highlighting a live engine test in July and received a U.S. Air Force-assigned X-61A designation in August.

The Dynetics team was one of four companies awarded Phase 1 in 2016. Phase 2 was awarded in March 2017 to two of those four performers, and Phase 3 followed in April 2018, naming Dynetics the top performer.

"This flight test validates all the engineering design work, analysis, and ground testing we have performed in the past two and a half years," Brandon Hiller, chief engineer for the X-61A said. "We have a lot of confidence in the vehicle's performance and overall design going forward, and the telemetry data from the flight compares exceptionally well to our modelling predictions."

The Dynetics Gremlins team consists of companies that represent best-in-class capabilities for their roles on the programme – Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Williams International, Applied Systems Engineering, Inc., Kutta Technologies, Inc., Moog Inc., Sierra Nevada Corporation, Systima Technologies, Inc., and Airborne Systems.

Reference Text/Photo: www.darpa.mil,www.dynetics.com

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