# Topics > Military AI and robotics > Military vehicles >  Tern UAS

## Airicist

Contributors:

DARPA

Office of Naval Research

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node on Wikipedia

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## Airicist

Article "DARPA asks Northrop Grumman to build second TERN prototype UAV to fly from small surface ships"

by John Keller
June 20, 2016

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## Airicist

Tern UAS concept overview

Published on Nov 28, 2016




> A DARPA/ONR/Northrop Grumman team is developing Tern, a revolutionary medium-altitude, long endurance, highly autonomous unmanned air system. The new tail-sitter UAS has the potential to dramatically improve the quality, capability, and reach of future Navy ISR and strike, and Marine expeditionary operations around the world.

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## Airicist

Tern Phase 3 concept video

Published on Feb 13, 2017




> Tern, a joint program between DARPA and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), seeks to greatly increase the effectiveness of forward-deployed small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates by enabling them to serve as mobile launch and recovery sites for specially designed unmanned air systems (UASs). DARPA last year awarded Phase 3 of Tern to a team led by the Northrop Grumman Corporation to build a full-scale technology demonstration system. The program has since made significant advances on numerous fronts, including commencement of wing fabrication and completion of successful engine testing for its test vehicle, and DARPA has tasked Northrop Grumman with building a second test vehicle.
> 
> Tern envisions a new medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS that could operate from helicopter decks on smaller ships in rough seas or expeditionary settings while achieving efficient long-duration flight. To provide these and other previously unattainable capabilities, the Tern Phase 3 design is a tailsitting, flying-wing aircraft with a twin contra-rotating, nose-mounted propulsion system. The aircraft would lift off like a helicopter and then perform a transition maneuver to orient it for wing-borne flight for the duration of a mission. Upon mission completion, the aircraft would return to base, transition back to a vertical orientation, and land. The system is sized to fit securely inside a ship hangar for maintenance operations and storage.

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