• LongShot: US advances missile-carrying drone to help fighters strike from distance LongShot is designed for fighters, bombers, or cargo aircraft, including palletized launch from mobility platforms. • The US has advanced a new uncrewed air vehicle designed to carry and launch precision-guided missiles. • Known as LongShot, the project spearheaded by DARPA began in 2021, with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems contracted to develop the design. • The aircraft, now designated the X-68A, is designed to be launched from fighters or bombers and then fly independently to fire missiles while the crewed aircraft remains at a safer distance. • Flight testing of the air-launched, missile-carrying drone is expected before the end of the year.“Recent achievements, including full-scale wind tunnel tests and successful trials of the vehicle’s parachute recovery and weapons-release systems, demonstrate significant progress in developing this next-generation capability,” said DARPA, in a statement. • Uncrewed missile platform DARPA’s LongShot program aims to reshape how air combat missions are conducted by introducing an air-launched, uninhabited aircraft capable of firing its own air-to-air missiles.
Article Summaries:
- LongShot: US advances missile-carrying drone to help fighters strike from distance LongShot is designed for fighters, bombers, or cargo aircraft, including palletized launch from mobility platforms. The US has advanced a new uncrewed air vehicle designed to carry and launch precision-guided missiles. Known as LongShot, the project spearheaded by DARPA began in 2021, with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems contracted to develop the design. The aircraft, now designated the X-68A, is designed to be launched from fighters or bombers and then fly independently to fire missiles while the crewed ai
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