DARPA doubles down on tern by funding second test vehicle

Tern, a joint programme between Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), seeks to greatly increase the effectiveness of forward-deployed small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates by enabling them to serve as mobile launch and recovery sites for specially designed unmanned air systems (UASs).

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DARPA last year awarded Phase 3 of Tern to a team led by the Northrop Grumman Corporation to build a full-scale technology demonstration system. The programme has since made significant advances on numerous fronts, including commencement of wing fabrication and completion of successful engine testing for its test vehicle, and DARPA has tasked Northrop Grumman with building a second test vehicle.

“DARPA has been thinking about building a second Tern test vehicle for well over a year,” said Dan Patt, DARPA Program Manager. “Adding the second technology demonstrator enhances the robustness of the flight demonstration programme and enables military partners to work with us on maturation, including testing different payloads and experimenting with different approaches to operational usage.”

Tern envisions a new medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS that could operate from helicopter decks on smaller ships in rough seas or expeditionary settings while achieving efficient long-duration flight. To provide these and other previously unattainable capabilities, the Tern Phase 3 design is a tail-sitting, flying-wing aircraft with a twin contra-rotating, nose-mounted propulsion system.