July 3rd, 2024

Semi-secret US Air Force long-endurance spy drone breaks cover

An American spy drone named ULTRA, developed by DZYNE, offers long-endurance tactical reconnaissance missions as a cost-effective alternative to MQ-9 Reapers. It features 80-hour endurance, hardened GPS, and various intelligence payloads, enhancing military reconnaissance capabilities.

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Semi-secret US Air Force long-endurance spy drone breaks cover

An American spy drone, ULTRA, developed by DZYNE, has been unveiled by the US Air Force. The drone is designed for long-endurance tactical reconnaissance missions and is a cost-effective alternative to the vulnerable MQ-9 Reapers. ULTRA, derived from a sports model aircraft, offers an 80-hour endurance with a payload of over 400 lb. It features hardened GPS and can carry various intelligence collection payloads. The drone operates at a lower altitude, allowing the use of cheaper commercial-off-the-shelf sensors. This cost-effective solution enables the Air Force to deploy more drones to cover larger remote areas using satellite command systems. ULTRA's deployment location remains undisclosed for security reasons. The development of ULTRA addresses the need for a less vulnerable and more affordable reconnaissance drone for military operations.

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Link Icon 8 comments
By @josefresco - 5 months
> Unfortunately, one hard lesson is that the Reaper is vulnerable

Looks like they're working on that: "New Electronic Warfare Pod Turns Marine MQ-9 Reaper Into “A Black Hole”" https://www.twz.com/news-features/new-electronic-warfare-pod...

By @krisoft - 5 months
> ULTRA has been deployed to an undisclosed location

Says the subtitle of the image with the very distinctive view of the Al Dhafra Air Base's control tower.

By @hindsightbias - 5 months
Given it doesn't have clear inlets, I'm going to guess it has a focus on noise and is probably an electric Stemme.

Children of insurgencies https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2017/o...

By @ortusdux - 5 months
Sounds like this new craft is $8mil/each, so about 1/4th the cost of a Reaper.

https://armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2024/us-air-...

By @complaintdept - 5 months
Looks like a sailplane without a cockpit. It might even use thermals and ridge lift to prolong flight time...in the right conditions it could fly indefinitely as long as it had a way to recharge the battery for operating the control surfaces.
By @breckenedge - 5 months
Gosh that looks like a DA20 except with longer nose, higher wings, retractable gear and tail wheel.
By @greenavocado - 5 months
It uses GPS so it's dead on arrival against near peer adversaries