The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently demonstrated the prototype of an elevated sensor aboard a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel for the first time, the agency said on Aug. 14.
The Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS) is an effort to demonstrate a low-cost, elevated sensor mast. TALONS is part of DARPA’s Phase 1 research for Tern, a joint program with the Navy’s Office of Naval Research.
TALONS is meant to be towed behind boats or ships to persistently suspend intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) instruments and communications payloads up to 500 and 1,500 feet above sea level. The payloads can weigh up to payloads weighing up to 150 pounds. TALONS altitude is much higher than current ships’ masts, “greatly extending the equipment’s range and effectiveness” DARPA said.
In this test the crew of the USS Zephyr, a Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship, evaluated the technology demonstration system over three days while near Naval Station Mayport, Fla.
DARPA said they demonstrated TALONS in safe and routine operation from the ship’s deck on various sea states and wind conditions, without adversely affected the ship’s operational capability. The agency highlighted during the tests TALONS “significantly improved the ship’s ability to detect, track, and classify contacts of interest.”
TALONS also increased communications range between the Zephyr and remote platforms like its rigid hull inflatable boats.
“We’re very pleased with the USS Zephyr testing, which showed that a future system based on TALONS could provide operational benefits for even small Navy vessels,” Scott Littlefield, a program manager in DARPA’s tactical technology office, said in a statement.
DARPA plans to continue cooperating with the Navy and work towards fully automating TALONS launch and recovery in the next year, “which would make the system even easier to use on manned vessels and compatible with unmanned surface vessels,” Littlefield added.
In 2016, DARPA tested TALONS on a Leidos [LDOS]-built Sea Hunter unmanned ship prototype with the agency’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel program.
The vessel set sail with TALONS as its first payload as part of open-water testing off the coast of California.
DARPA describes Tern on its web site as “an advanced technology development program that seeks to design, develop, and demonstrate a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and related technologies that enable future launch, recovery, and operations from small ships.”
Tern originated with DARPAS Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program, which become a joint effort with ONR in May 2014 as Tern.
DARPA said Tern seeks to allow on-demand ship-based UAS operations without expensive, time-consuming, and irreversible modifications. It hopes to produce a “mission truck” that can transport ISR and strike payloads long distances from a host vessel.