Silent Arrow today announced that the company’s GD-2000 UAS platform was selected for a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Warfighter Lab Incentive Fund (WLIF) contract with a 12-month period of performance beginning in Q1 2022. The $2.2M contract win resulted from the Pentagon-based Joint Staff (J7 Joint Force Development Directorate) partnering with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and one of its theater components, in order to fund a series of advanced operational demonstrations and Concept of Operations (CONOPs) development activities for Silent Arrow’s flagship product, the GD-2000. The timing of the contract award aligns with the DoD’s need to supplement or replace tactical and operational overland logistics in future conflicts. As the battlefield becomes more accessible to all adversaries, Combatant Commands have identified the need to establish and sustain logistical operations in contested and denied operating environments.
Under the contract, Silent Arrow will deliver and support:
- Operational demonstrations for concept development (CONOPs, CONEMPs and TTPs) to include:
Delivering two GD-2000s to Exercise Emerald Warrior at Hurlburt Field
Delivering two GD-2000s to an undisclosed location for further demonstration
Delivering one GD-2000 for non-flying purposes to include training and educating the joint special operations warfighter - Radar signature assessment and management
- Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) integration
- Water landing and resupply at sea logistics
- An operational and technical utility assessment to include integration of the GD-2000 with military aircraft platforms & force structures
- Transition plan based on the outcome of the operational demonstrations
At the conclusion of this effort, Silent Arrow will have completed all necessary safety and operational milestones required to become a DoD Program of Record, will be compatible with Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) systems, and fully integrated with the end user’s equipment and force structure. Coupled with the recent contract awarded by the U.S. Air Force to procure an initial lot of fifteen scaled-down Silent Arrows, the company now has a full suite of UAS capabilities to provide a variety of tactical and operational level, on-demand autonomous logistics support for nearly every airborne Special Operations platform as well as in overseas operations. Additionally, the Special Operations warfighter will have tested these cargo delivery drones on special purpose aircraft, standard cargo aircraft, and helicopters, both overland and in maritime environments.
“We’d like to thank the Joint Chiefs and J7 for their confidence in awarding this seminal program,” said Chip Yates, Silent Arrow’s Founder and CEO. “We are looking forward to leaning in with our mission partners and delivering these disruptive capabilities to the warfighter to create a logistical advantage while reducing physical threats to those operating in harm’s way.”
Silent Arrow® is a DBA of Yates Electrospace Corporation, founded in 2012 to produce the Silent Arrow® and AVIUS Air Delivery™ autonomous cargo drone product lines, which were highlighted as an “Unmanned Cargo Aircraft to Watch” by Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. Silent Arrow’s engineering team has been awarded more than 20 patents, 6 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) aircraft world records and 2 FAI Louis Bleriot medals for disruptive contributions to the aerospace industry. In 2021 Silent Arrow® was selected as a finalist for the Robert J. Collier Trophy as the “Greatest Achievement in Aeronautics or Astronautics in America.”
