The US Air Force declassified the ULTRA reconnaissance UAV – a much cheaper alternative to the MQ-9 Reaper with an autonomy of 80 hours

The U.S. Air Force has released photos of its Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) reconnaissance drone. This semi-classified UAV, developed by DZYNE, is now confirmed to be deployed and active.

The recent unrest in the Middle East, and especially in the Red Sea, has become a testing ground for Western military technology, tactics and policies. The MQ-9 Reaper UAVs, which are used for long-range reconnaissance to protect against terrorist attacks on ships, as well as for other missions, have been invaluable. Unfortunately, one hard lesson is that the Reaper is vulnerable. Each of these vehicles costs $30 million, which makes their loss to enemy fire quite tangible. After all, the Reaper was originally designed as a strike vehicle to hit ground targets, which was later modified for reconnaissance missions.

The Air Force needed an alternative, and DZYNE Technologies Incorporated quickly offered it. Matt McCue, CEO of DZYNE, said that the company worked with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Center for Rapid Innovation to create a drone that would be inexpensive, less vulnerable, and able to get airborne quickly.

The result was the ULTRA, which was created on the basis of an existing sports aircraft model. It was converted into a military unmanned aerial vehicle using commercially available UAS technology. It’s not as advanced as the Reaper, but it’s much cheaper and boasts an 80-hour autonomous flight time with a payload of over 180 kg.

In addition, the ULTRA has enhanced GPS navigation and can carry a variety of electro-optical/infrared, radio frequency, and other low-cost intelligence gathering equipment. These are cheaper than on the Reaper because the ULTRA operates at lower altitudes, so commercially available sensors are perfectly acceptable.

According to the Air Force, this affordable UAV will allow more of them to be deployed in the air to cover more remote areas. The ULTRA can fly missions far from accessible airfields using «point-and-click» satellite control systems.

Source: newatlas