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Northrop Grumman Unveils DARPA Shipboard Drone Concept for Navy Tactical Missions

Northrop Grumman Unveils DARPA Shipboard Drone Concept for Navy Tactical Missions
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman for designing an autonomous VTOL aircraft system. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

Northrop Grumman [NOC] has unveiled the design of the new autonomous uncrewed vertical take-off and landing aircraft capable of operating from Navy ships at sea that it will build under a new contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office. The as-yet unbuilt aircraft has been given a typically terrible Defense Department acronym: ANCILLARY, which stands for AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY. The Northrop Grumman-built demonstrator should be a cost-efficient, multiple-mission capable vehicle built on an…

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