DARPA Awards TERN Program Contract

An artist's concept of the TERN program. Image courtesy DARPA.

By Ashley Addington



Medium-altitude, long-endurance UAVs are one step closer to being launched from small ships thanks to a new DARPA contract award. DARPA granted a $2.2 million contract to Maritime Applied Physics Corp., which is conducting research to facilitate small ships with UAVs. 



TERN stands for Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, and the program aims to make small ships UAV bases for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. DARPA is planning on flying a prototype system in 2017, and this first-phase contract is only one of a total that will equal $8.9 million in funding. 



MAPC is focused on creating a system that is durable for strenuous hours of use that can assist with surveillance and strike mobile targets at any time, according to a press release. It will also create a system that is capable of launching and landing back on the ship for a speedy recovery time.