home Security Military The Tech that Delivers Resupply to Battlefield

The Tech that Delivers Resupply to Battlefield

Sep 29, 2019

photo illust. US Navy — 030115-N-9693M-514 Catania, Sicily (Jan 15, 2003) Ð U.S. Marines stand prepare MealÕs Ready to Eat (MRE) for shipment as fellow Marines and Seabees board Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships in Sicily as part of a deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Marines and Seabees arrived at Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella for staging prior to the war in Iraq. NAS Sigonella provides logistical support for Commander, Sixth Fleet and NATO forces in the Mediterranean Sea. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Damon J. Moritz. (RELEASED)

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Cheap and accurate resupply by glider is part of the broader picture of drone delivery, where low cost navigation systems, sensors and control surfaces make disposable (or at least expendable) vehicles possible. A new delivery drone promises to have unique capabilities. The Silent Arrow autonomous glider is, in essence, a delivery drone comes in disposable and electric/reusable versions.

The vehicle can be guided either by remote pilot (including through first-person-view cameras) or plot a path to the landing site autonomously. Autopilot is based around a modified COTS Pixhawk Cube, and it draws data from GPS, magnetometer, barometer, inertial measurement unit, LiDAR, and pitot.

When released from an altitude of 25,000 feet, the Silent Arrow can glide up to 40 miles over 12 minutes and can be released from a range of aircraft, including planes like the C-17 and the C-130, tiltrotor craft like V-22s, and helicopters like the CH-53. If it’s can’t fit inside, it can be slung underneath helicopters inside, according to c4isrnet.com.

Made by Yates Electrospace Corporation for the MEL Group, the Silent Arrow is designed “to supply 1 rifle squad for 1 day of heavy direct-action combat” with a single Silent Arrow, with enough space inside to fit all the MREs, medicine, ammunition, water, batteries, and fuel the squad might need over that day.

It is only lightly powered and, with the exception of the electric variant, is built for one way flight.