The US Air Force has revealed photos of its Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) drone. This semi-secret UAV, created by DZYNE, is now confirmed as deployed and active.
Recent unrest in the Middle East, particularly in the Red Sea, has become a testing ground for Western military technologies, tactics, and policies. The MQ-9 Reaper drones, used as a long-range reconnaissance tool to protect ships from terrorist attacks and for other missions, have been invaluable. Unfortunately, one hard lesson is that the Reaper is vulnerable. Each of these drones costs $30 million, making their loss to enemy fire quite significant. The Reaper was originally designed as a strike aircraft for hitting ground targets, which was later modified for reconnaissance missions.
The Air Force needed an alternative, and it was promptly offered by DZYNE Technologies Incorporated. Matt McKew, CEO of DZYNE, said that the company, in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory's Innovation Hub, had to create a drone that was inexpensive, less vulnerable, and could quickly take off.
The result was ULTRA, which was created based on an existing sports aircraft model. It was converted into a military drone using commercially available UAV technologies. It is not as advanced as the Reaper, but it is much cheaper and boasts an 80-hour autonomous flight endurance with a payload of over 180 kg.
Additionally, ULTRA has enhanced GPS navigation and can carry various electro-optical / infrared, radio frequency, and other inexpensive reconnaissance collection assets. They are cheaper than those on the Reaper because ULTRA operates at lower altitudes, making commercially available sensors quite adequate.
According to the Air Force, this affordable UAV will allow for a larger number of them to be deployed in the air to cover more remote areas. ULTRA can perform missions far from available airfields using satellite "point and click" control systems.
Source: newatlas
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