Questions Surround Air Force’s New Glider-Based Drone
7/12/2024
By Jan Tegler
In early May, U.S. Air Forces Central released a series of photographs of a glider-like drone preparing for an early-morning mission at an “undisclosed location.
Photo captions identified the aircraft as the Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft, or ULTRA.
At least one ULTRA drone has been flying with 380th Air Expeditionary Wing as a low-cost, longer-endurance alternative to the MQ-9 Reapers, which the wing also operates. But the Air Force Research Laboratory — which developed ULTRA in a collaboration with Fairfax, Virginia-headquartered DZYNE Technologies — won’t acknowledge that aircraft is already operational.
“The ULTRA program continues to progress through prototype development and test activities,” AFRL spokesman Bryan Ripple said. “AFRL is not releasing further details on the ULTRA program at this time as that information is pre-decisional or not yet approved for public release.”
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/7/12/questions-surround-air-forces-new-gliderbased-drone
