The Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft or ULTRA is a developmental

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

(UAV) built by

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

(AFRL) Center for Rapid Innovation (CRI) and DZYNE Technologies Incorporated.

Background

Since 2008, the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

's primary reconnaissance aircraft has been the

MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomi ...

. However, at a price of $30 million per aircraft, it has been shown to be costly if lost;Meet the Air Force’s secretive long-range drone that flies for days
''Defense One''. 2 July 2024. during the

Red Sea crisis {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Red Sea crisis , width = , partof = the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present), and the Yemeni civil war (2014–present) , image ...

from October 2023 to May 2025, the

Houthis The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydism, Zaydi Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadersh ...

shot down at least 15 Reapers. Part of the cost comes from its configuration as a strike UAV, but only a "single-digit percentage" of surveillance missions it flew required a strike capability, so the U.S. Air Force pursued a simpler and cheaper alternative for flying pure

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

missions.

Design and development

AFRL's CRI began development of an affordable UAS capable of multi-day duration flights in 2019, going from concept to first flight in less than 10 months.Questions Surround Air Force’s New Glider-Based Drone
''National Defense Magazine''. 12 July 2024. DZYNE had previously worked on the Long Endurance Aircraft Program (LEAP), which produced an autonomous aircraft deployed in 2016 and could fly for up to 40 hours. This prior experience led to the development of ULTRA, which the Air Force officially started buying in the 2025 budget request, procuring four drones for $35 million. ULTRA is designed to be an

intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...

(ISR) truck capable of carrying a variety of

electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

(EO/IR) and radio frequency (RF), other low-cost intelligence collection payloads, and sensors to provide a reconfigurable platform. ULTRA increased endurance and lowered acquisition cost by repurposing the manned

Stemme S12 The Stemme S12 is a German high-wing, two-seat motor glider produced by Stemme of Strausberg. It was introduced at AERO Friedrichshafen in April 2015, shortly after its first flight. Design and development Based in the Stemme S10, the Stemme S ...

commercial sport glider and converting it to a military hardened drone using commercial-off-the-shelf UAV technology, existing manufacturing and supply channels, and limited custom avionics. Lower cost EO/IR and RF sensors are possible due to lower operating altitudes that do not require large optics or high-power RF. It can fly for over 80 hours while carrying over of payload and it has a wingspan of over .

Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...

. Endurance allows these sensors to cover areas with fewer aircraft. It has enough range and endurance to loiter for a day over a target after traveling over . The aircraft relies on an operator friendly command and control system that allows for "Point and Click" operations. Global operations are possible through satellite-based command and control links that also provide the high-rate ISR data feed to the operators in real time. In May 2024, ''The War Zone'' reported that ULTRA was being operated from

Al Dhafra Air Base Al Dhafra Air Base (ADAB, , ) is a military installation in the United Arab Emirates. The base is located approximately south of Abu Dhabi, and is operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force. Facilities The airport sits at an elevation of a ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. In July 2024, a successful three-day test flight was described to

References

External links

Flight videoDZYNE Technologies airborne systems
{{US unmanned aircraft

ULTRA Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...

Background

Design and development

See also

References

External links