Designs revealed for DARPA’s ANCILLARY VTOL UAS programme
DARPA has unveiled images of all six design concepts for its ANCILLARY programme on which the agency will expect to see the end of design maturation before mid-2025 followed by X-plane flight tests in early 2026.
The agency’s objective with the programme has been “to increase small VTOL UAS capabilities by a factor of three over the current state-of-the-art flying today [which means finding] innovative ways to increase payload weight and range/endurance of small, ship-launched UAS by means of novel configurations, propulsion and controls, while also removing the need for special infrastructure”.
In Phase Ia, the programme explored conceptual designs from nine non-traditional and
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