The "Gremlins" Drone Project is Underway

A futuristic method of attack: a large bomber or a transport aircraft will launch a large number of small drones, which will carry out their mission and then return to the plane

 
The "Gremlins" Drone Project is Underway

Photo: AP

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, envisions a futuristic method of attacking targets on the battlefield. The Gremlins project aims to launch volleys of small, low-cost unmanned air vehicles from bombers, cargo aircraft or possibly even fighter jets, and recover them via a C-130 transport aircraft.

The "Gremlins" program may sound fictional, but DARPA has already awarded contracts to several large companies. The awards begin the first of three program phases, which could culminate in a proof-of-concept demonstration of an air-launched, air-recovered, volley-quantity unmanned aircraft system.

Dan Patt, DARPA program manager, explained how it would work: "the drones will be launched from platforms such as the B-52 or B-1 bombers, and at the end of their mission will be recovered by the C-130. Each gremlin must fly out (555-926 km) at high subsonic speeds after launch and loiter for 1-3 hours before turning back to the C-130 for recovery. These 'gremlins' would conduct a variety of missions like electronic attack or target geolocation, mainly as stand-ins for conventional, monolithic platforms such as manned fighter jets or expensive UAVs."