California company Silent Arrow has secured a contract to develop a long-range cargo drone for the US Air Force innovation segment AFWERX.
The agreement will see the production of the firm’s proprietary Contested Logistics System, 300 Nautical Miles (CLS-300) unmanned aerial system, which is expected to “address one of the most pressing challenges” in the service.
The CLS-300 is a scaled-up version of Silent Arrow’s GD-2000 heavy-lift resupply and relief glider drone.
The older platform operates autonomously and carries up to 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) of payload over 35 nautical miles (65 kilometers/40 miles).
Users can deploy the GD-2000 from transport aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules, and A400M Atlas.
Compared to the glider system, the CLS-300 can sustain 10 times the flight range through a cost-effective integrated propeller system and engine.
The air-droppable aircraft can also take off from naval vessels and raw ground surface points.
“We’d like to thank the US Air Force, AFWERX, [Air Force Research Laboratory] and our Air Force Customer and End-User organizations for their confidence in awarding this disruptive program,” Silent Arrow CEO and Founder Chip Yates stated.
“We are looking forward to a compressed schedule with propulsion tests in the first half of 2024 followed by flight tests in the second half of 2024 so that we may rapidly deliver this critical capability to warfighters operating in harm’s way as well as to humanitarian and disaster relief organizations serving those in need.”
Scaled-Down Glider Drone
In December 2021, Silent Arrow signed a contract to deliver a scaled-down version of the GD-2000 glider drone to the US Air Force.
The award ordered a system for “side door and multi-unit (swarm) ramp deployment” interoperable with the service’s cargo aircraft, such as the Cessna Caravan and C-17.
The resulting system weighs 500 pounds (227 kilograms) and has a payload capacity of 350 pounds (159 kilograms).
