New U.S. Long-Range UAVs to Launch from Small Ships

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A U.S. military research program, that seeks to develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to be launched and recovered from relatively small ships for long-term maritime surveillance, has grown to five separate contractors.

Carter Aviation Technologies LLC and Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. are the latest companies to join the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to Military & Aerospace the DARPA TERN program seeks to overcome limitations of Navy shipboard aircraft surveillance. Helicopters are relatively limited in their maximum distances and flight times, for example, while fixed-wing manned and unmanned aircraft must operate from aircraft carriers or large land bases with long runways, although they can fly farther and longer than helicopters.