{"id":101896,"date":"2020-02-04T22:44:16","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T06:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/darpa-is-testing-drones-it-can-launch-from-a-plane-then-collect-mid-air"},"modified":"2020-02-04T22:44:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T06:44:16","slug":"darpa-is-testing-drones-it-can-launch-from-a-plane-then-collect-mid-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/darpa-is-testing-drones-it-can-launch-from-a-plane-then-collect-mid-air","title":{"rendered":"DARPA is testing drones it can launch from a plane\u2014then collect mid-air"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/darpa-is-testing-drones-it-can-launch-from-a-plane-then-collect-mid-air2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The news:<\/strong> The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P3DncMeGqTg&amp;feature=youtu.be\">conducted the first test<\/a> of a new type of drone that can be launched from a plane in a swarm and recovered in mid-air when it\u2019s done its job.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P3DncMeGqTg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>How it works:<\/strong> A military transport or bomber plane releases a series of drones in rapid succession. They carry out the task designated to them (surveillance, for example) and then return to the plane, docking on a line before being winched in. It looks a bit like the airborne refueling process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Testing:<\/strong> A test, which took place in Utah in November but was first reported this week, showed that a military transport plane can successfully launch and monitor the drone, known as an <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/unmanned\/2018\/05\/14\/darpa-has-a-full-team-to-grab-drones-mid-air\/\">X-61A Gremlin<\/a>. However, after a successful mid-air launch and a flight lasting one hour, 41 minutes, the drone crashed when \u201cmechanical issues\u201d prevented its parachute from deploying, the firm behind the drone, Dynetics, said in a press statement. There\u2019s video of the test <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P3DncMeGqTg&amp;feature=emb_logo\">here<\/a> (it includes <em>bad<\/em> music, be warned). This spring, DARPA will try to fly and recover four of the drones for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The news: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has conducted the first test of a new type of drone that can be launched from a plane in a swarm and recovered in mid-air when it\u2019s done its job. How it works: A military transport or bomber plane releases a series of drones in rapid [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488,42,9,1511],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drones","category-media-arts","category-military","category-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}