Silent Arrow® Autonomous Cargo Glider Wins New Defense Contract
$2.2M program includes five GD-2000s for operational evaluation and concept-of-operations development.
LOS ANGELES, February 14, 2022 — The unique, autonomous cargo-carrying glider developed by Silent Arrow has been awarded a new contract with the US Department of Defense’s Warfighter Lab Incentive Fund (WLIF). The $2.2M, 12 month program begins in the first quarter of this year. The contract — which calls for the delivery of a total of five GD-2000 gliders — will provide advanced operational demonstrations and concept-of-operations development activities.
Two of the GD-2000 aircraft called for under the terms of the contract will participate to Exercise Emerald Warrior at Hurlburt Field, Florida coming up later in 2022. Two additional aircraft will be delivered to an undisclosed location and the fifth aircraft will be used for training and educational purposes.
As theatres of operations during conflicts become more accessible to all adversaries, it has become increasingly important to maintain resupply operations in regions where the airspace is either contested or denied. The 60 km stand off capability of the GD-2000 combined with lower radar signature and near-zero noise signature make a glider particularly well-suited to this requirement. Most importantly, these capabilities have the potential to reduce physical threats to personnel.
This new contract is intended to prove out these capabilities in a real-world operating environment. Notably, this also includes testing out water landing and resupply-at-sea operations. The contract also calls for a transition plan to full operations to be developed based on the outcome of the project.
“We’d like to thank the Joint Chiefs and J7 for their confidence in awarding this seminal program,” said Chip Yates, Silent Arrow’s Founder and CEO. “We are looking forward to leaning in with our mission partners and delivering these disruptive capabilities to the warfighter to create a logistical advantage while reducing physical threats to those operating in harm’s way.”
In an exclusive follow up interview with RCSD subsequent to the announcement, Yates commented: “We are humbled by the continuing interest from RC Soaring Digest writers and readers. This is a great time for gliders to rise up and address global challenges — the miniaturization of autopilots and sensors have come at the perfect moment to enable us to provide heavy lift, accurate and single-use glider capability for humanitarian and tactical use.”
Global events of the recent past have demonstrated the fragility of the global supply chain. This has created near unlimited demand for a wide variety of additional, innovative means of completing the ‘last mile’ of delivery. We hope readers will take the disruptive approach of the Silent Arrow to military logistics and be inspired to help address other logistical challenges using the familiar RC glider technology employed in Silent Arrow.
©2022 The NEW RC Soaring Digest Staff
Resources
- Silent Arrow — company website.
- Warfighting Lab Incentive Fund (WLIF) — From website: “used to support field experiments and demonstrations that take concepts from paper to real world execution”
- Exercise Emerald Warrior — From website: “a joint exercise which brings together U.S. special operations and conventional forces and those of its international partners and allies to prepare for current and future challenges”
- J7 Directorate for Joint Force Development — From website: “supports the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS)…through joint force development (JFD) in order to advance the operational effectiveness of the current and future joint force.”
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