Northrop Grumman has received a $17.7 million contract modification as part of DARPA’s Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, or Tern, program. The modification takes the contract’s total to $150.2 ...

Aircraft carriers such as the USS Nimitzcan carry aircraft, helicopters, and drones on deck. But DARPA wants to land drones on smaller warships, too. Image source:U.S. Navy. Six months ago, we ...

A DARPA illustration of Tern in flight. The military has made extensive use of unmanned aircraft for surveillance and intelligence gathering, but long-range drones have always had one limitation—they ...

Key point: This potentially-brilliant idea would increase America’s striking power without having to pay for more expensive full-size carriers. The U.S. Navy is seeking to transform every ship into ...

The DARPA TERN program investigates how compact naval vessels could deploy reconnaissance drones without large flight decks. Engineers are working to solve takeoff, recovery, and stability challenges ...

In the next few years, the U.S. Navy may finally realize a dream it has had since World War II: the ability to vertically launch and recover a fixed-wing aircraft from a ship deck. A prototype ...

A terse press release from a rival reveals Northrop's big win. Six months ago, we introduced you to a groundbreaking DARPA project -- a plan that could potentially transform each and every ship in the ...