DARPA awards Northrop Grumman Phase III TERN contract

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Northrop Grumman to develop a a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle that can be launched from smaller ships.

The Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, or TERN, program supports the development of a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle capable of being launched from smaller ships.

DARPA launched the TERN program for the U.S. Navy, which has expressed the need for a tactical unmanned vehicle with a heavy-payload capability and extended range and endurance that can be launched from ships smaller than an aircraft carrier.

Northrop Grumman won the $93 million contract over AeroVironment, which was dropped from the program in September, leaving the company as the only competitor for the contract.

"Our team developed a truly innovative approach to addressing DARPA's requirements, but our customer elected not to pursue our proposed solution," AeroVironment Unmanned Aircraft Systems vice president Kirk Flittie said in September.

Northrop Grumman's model is a tail-sitting flying wing that resembles Lockheed Martin's XFV-1 and Convair's XFY-1 Pogo fighters dating back to the 1950s. Designers of the model also showed mounting weapons on hard parts under the 40-foot wingspan, according to Flight Global.

DAPRA's terms for the contract require Northrop Grumman to front about $39 million to support the vehicle's demonstration, bringing the total cost of the demonstration to $132 million.