Northrop Grumman, AeroVironment Advance in Tern Program

An artist’s conception of a Tern aircraft. Image courtesy DARPA.

by Brett Davis



Northrop Grumman and AeroVironment have advanced to the second phase of DARPA’s Tern program, which aims to operate mid-sized unmanned aircraft off of smaller U.S. Navy ships than the ones currently used.



The Tern program — which builds off the earlier Tactical Exploited Reconnaissance Node, although DARPA no longer uses the acronym — would allow many more types of ships to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance and even strike missions anywhere in the world without requiring extensive ship modification.



Five companies were under contract for phase one of the work, and now at least two have moved to the second phase. The final phase of the program calls for the winning company to build a full-scale Tern demonstrator that will first be tested on land and then at sea on a vessel with a deck the same size as an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.



In late September, both AeroVironment and Northrop Grumman were awarded $19 million contracts to continue the work.



“Being competitively selected to execute phase two of the Tern program allows us to further demonstrate how our system could advance the Navy's mission,” says Chris Hernandez, vice president of advanced systems at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “Our Tern solution taps into the company's proven expertise and experience in developing and deploying operational unmanned systems in harsh and challenging environments at sea.”