VIVAERO

The small Eaglet drone made its first flight today

Unmanned aerial systems developer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has revealed that it recently flew a new air-launched drone for the first time, a small UAS deployed from a larger UAS.

Dubbed the Eaglet, the small ALE (Air-Launched Effects) drone was launched from a US Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS as part of a flight demonstration based at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah, on December 8, 2022(image below).

According to the company, the Eaglet flight was jointly funded by GA-ASI and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC) of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development (DEVCOM).

“Eaglet's maiden flight was an important milestone for the GA-ASI/US Army team,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “The Eaglet is intended to be a low cost, survivable UAS with the versatility to be launched from a Gray Eagle, rotorcraft or ground vehicles. It enables extended sensor range and increased lethality while providing survivability for manned aircraft.”

Eaglet falls into the 'ALE large' category, which encompasses larger and more powerful sensors or payloads. Due to its design, the Eaglet is capable of carrying a variety of payloads in support of various Army missions.

As explained by the company, a Gray Eagle can carry an Eaglet "for thousands of kilometers" before launching it while being controlled by unmanned or unmanned teams or as a component of advanced command and control concepts of teams.

The company did not provide details on the Eaglet's range after launching a Gray Eagle or its payload capacity.

Eaglet can work in conjunction with other long-range payloads carried by Gray Eagles, helicopters or other platforms to support deep detection in multi-domain operations.

With this successful flight of the Eaglet, GA-ASI said it would work with the US Department of Defense to showcase it in further exercises to further determine its potential.

The previously unknown Eaglet is the newest entry in GA-ASI's Evolution series of UAS concepts. Evolution is preceded by the "autonomous collaborative platform" Gambit and the air-launched drones Sparrowhawk and LongShot.