DARPA Selects Teams to Propose VTOL Unmanned X-Plane Designs

AeroVironment, AVX Aircraft, Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Leidos, Method Aeronautics, Northrop Grumman, Piasecki Aircraft, and Sikorsky will develop VTOL UAS designs, with Navy and Marine missions in mind, during the six-month Phase Ia By DA Staff / 27 Jun 2023

Tactical UAS

Discover cutting-edge solutions from 9 leading global suppliers
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
DARPA Selects Teams to Propose VTOL Unmanned X-Plane
Follow DA

DARPA has selected nine companies to produce initial operational system and demonstration system conceptual designs for a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) that can be deployed and retrieved without large mechanical launchers and landing/recovery equipment. 

The AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY program (ANCILLARY) ultimately plans to flight demonstrate innovative aircraft configurations and critical technologies needed for a low-weight, large-payload, long-endurance VTOL uncrewed X-plane.

AeroVironment, AVX Aircraft, Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Leidos, Method Aeronautics, Northrop Grumman, Piasecki Aircraft, and Sikorsky will develop VTOL UAS designs, with Navy and Marine missions in mind, during the six-month Phase Ia. Teams then will submit competitive proposals for more detailed X-plane design work.  

“The objectives of the program are to develop a small UAS that takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter, and flies its mission like very efficient winged aircraft, while carrying a significant amount of payload for a variety of missions,” said Steve Komadina, the DARPA program manager for ANCILLARY. “We are looking for a VTOL UAS that can operate from ship flight decks and small out-of-the-way land locations in most weather conditions without using typical launch and recovery equipment that is needed for current long endurance, high payload weight aircraft.” 

ANCILLARY aims to solve a combination of challenging design objectives by bringing together technology developments in advanced VTOL aircraft configurations, advanced propulsion architectures, and advanced control effectors/theory from traditional and non-traditional industry companies.

“The major challenge is developing an integrated flight vehicle that meets the hard objective of combining VTOL, long endurance, and large payload while also meeting requirements for shipboard storage and operations,” said Komadina. “A key element is the propulsion system, which needs to have enough power to lift the X-plane vertically while also being extremely efficient in forward flight when power needs are lower.”

The project is expected to culminate with X-plane flight tests in early 2026.

Find suppliers and manufacturers of tactical UAS>>

Posted by DA Staff Connect & Contact

Latest Articles

Practical Methods for Balancing UAV Propellers Safely & Effectively

Tyto Robotics discusses the ways to add and remove materials from drone propellers, considering advantages and disadvantages of various products and techniques

Jul 11, 2025
Military-Grade Tethered Drone Systems for Surveillance & Security Missions

DPI UAV Systems (Dragonfly Pictures) is a developer of advanced tethered drone systems for military, government and security applications. As...

Jul 11, 2025
Modular Chassis Design Enhances Deployment Flexibility for Defense Systems

LCR Embedded Systems explains how modular chassis design supports rapid deployment and cost-effective packaging for rugged embedded systems using open standards like VPX and SOSA

Jul 10, 2025
MilDef to Supply Rugged IT Equipment for Norway’s Defense Digitization

MilDef has secured a major contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to supply rugged IT equipment supporting Norway’s defense digitization efforts

Jul 10, 2025
Tethered Drone Technologies for Mission-Critical Defense & Security Applications

Defense Advancement showcases Elistair's tethered drone solutions for mission-critical defense and security applications

Jul 10, 2025
New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025

Featured Content

New Oscilloquartz Optical Cesium Clocks Enhance Network Timing Precision

Adtran is expanding its Oscilloquartz portfolio with the new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC optical cesium models, providing improved holdover and simplified maintenance for telecom, data center, utility, and defense networks

Jul 09, 2025
Teledyne FLIR OEM Whitepaper: Synthetic Data Generation for AI Object Detection

Read Teledyne FLIR OEM’s whitepaper on AIMMGen™, a defense-oriented synthetic data and AI model generation pipeline tailored to Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) and object classification tasks

Jul 03, 2025
Galvion’s Production Hub in Poland Now Open & Operational

Galvion's new Production Hub in Poland has formally opened through a large ceremony held at the Gdansk facility with factory tours, demonstrations, and live models of helmets

Jun 30, 2025
Advancing Defense Capability Through Strategic Collaboration Defense Advancement works with major OEMs to foster collaboration and increase engagement with SMEs, to accelerate innovation and drive defense capabilities forward.