Air Force asks Dzyne Technologies to design swarming unmanned aerial systems for precision payload delivery
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – U.S. Air Force logistics experts needed to develop enabling technologies for swarms of unmanned gliders for precision payload delivery of air-launched supplies from long ranges. They found their solution from Dzyne Technologies Inc. in Fairfax, Va.
Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced an $89.4 million contract to Dzyne Technologies last week for research into the unmanned Small Payload Precision Air-Launched Inexpensive Delivery System (SPPAIDS).
This low-cost system is designed to improve small-payload precision delivery capability at long standoff ranges. Dzyne Technologies will develop, build, and demonstrate a functional prototype aircraft for this job.
Dzyne Technologies experts will develop, mature, and demonstrate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarming technologies and related systems for eventual transfer to military users.
The company will develop the aero design and prototyping of the glider vehicle, mechanical design and testing of the shock attenuation method, software development to demonstrate precision landing, and material and manufacturing development to support rapid destructibility.
Military demand for a system able to deliver small payloads precisely has been largely unmet in military and commercial applications, Air Force researchers say.
The SPPAIDS system will meet this commercial and military demand with a system that precisely delivers as much as 25 pounds of payload, with minimal cost and labor necessary from the end user.
On this contract Dzyne Technologies will do the work in Irvine, Calif., and should be finished by June 2027. For more information contact Dzyne Technologies online at www.dzynetech.com, or the Air Force Research Laboratory at www.afrl.af.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
