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Four companies chosen for COTS, dual-use air-launched system

5th June 2024 - 10:15 GMT | by Shephard News Team in Lodnon

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An artist’s impression of Zone 5 Technologies bid for ETV. (Image: Zone 5 Technologies)

An enterprise test vehicle (ETV) will use dual-use and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to develop an air-launched multi-purpose system with an emphasis on modularity.

Four companies have been selected by the US Air Force Armament Directorate (AFLCMC/EB) and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop prototype solutions for an ETV, an air-launched weapon or sensor.

The effort will attempt to identify and prototype commercial and dual-use technology solutions for an ETV that demonstrates modularity for subsystem upgrade testing. The technology will also serve as a foundation for affordable high-rate production.

On 4 June, the DIU said: “Initial flight demonstrations will occur within seven months from the agreement award dates, after which one or multiple of the most promising prototypes will continue development towards a production variant capable of rapidly scalable manufacture.”

Cassie Johnson, the armament directorate’s ETV programme manager, said COTS products would provide benefits in development efforts.

“We have become convinced that widening the aperture to include more non-traditional aerospace companies offers the best chance at accomplishing our cost-per-unit goals, project timeline and production quantity goals,” Johnson said.

The companies selected to develop prototype solutions for flight demonstration were Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics and Zone 5 Technologies to develop prototype solutions for flight demonstration in the second half of 2024. The companies were chosen from more than 100 commercial and dual-use technology company applicants.

Additional ETV government project collaborators and evaluators include Air Force Research Laboratory, Special Operations Command, Naval Air Systems Command and US Indo-Pacific Command.