AF, Navy May Both Fly DARPA Missile Mothership
One of three current contenders for the LongShot program will be chosen to go into flight test, "based on the currently allocated budget," a DARPA spokesperson told Breaking D.
By Theresa Hitchens on February 15, 2021 at 3:14 PM
DARPA’s LongShot drone, Northrop Grumman concept art
WASHINGTON: DARPA plans to flight test a prototype of a novel air-launched drone — one designed to launch its own high-speed air-to-air missiles — as soon as the first half of 2024.
Long Shot is conceived as an autonomous, air-launched uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) that can serve as a sort of mothership, launching its own air-to-air missiles once in range of enemy aircraft.
DARPA has tapped General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to provide preliminary designs under Phase 1 of its new Long Shot program. Long Shot aims to demonstrate a drone that would be launched by fighters or bombers flying at stand-off ranges, autonomously fly into enemy airspace, and then launch its own air-to-air missiles to take down enemy aircraft.
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/02/af-navy-may-both-fly-darpa-missile-mothership/?_ga=2.202450969.980802087.1613474107-1065168437.1613366166
