VTOL drone Wildcat: Aerovironment reaches milestones in DARPA's EVADE programme

Wildcat, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone from Aerovironment (AV), has passed several development milestones. According to the company a few days ago, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) reached them in the “Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration” (EVADE) programme of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

According to AV, Wildcat successfully completed the transition from vertical take-off to forward flight. Key flight and propulsion systems are considered validated, and integration of mission payloads classed as critical has begun. The system is thus rapidly approaching operationally relevant capability.

The Group 3 vertical take-off aircraft is designed for operation from ship decks in denied maritime environments. A compact design, autonomous take-off and landing, and robust flight performance even in high sea states are intended to make it a flexible and scalable solution for contested coastal operations.

Chris Fisher, Vice President of MacCready Works Novel Systems, a development team at AV, puts the progress into context: “Wildcat reflects the spirit of MacCready Works – groundbreaking thinking, accelerated timelines and a deep focus on the mission.” He adds: “Within a few weeks we went from systems integration to full forward-flight transitions, while validating key subsystems at the same time. This is what innovation at operational speed looks like.”

EVADE accelerates ANCILLARY

The EVADE initiative accelerates the Phase 2 plan of DARPA's “AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY” (ANCILLARY) programme. The agency had originally scheduled flight tests there for the end of 2026.

The programme's innovations include a new visual precision landing system (VPLS), AVACORE-enabled integration of government-furnished software, and a new modular autopilot with an AI computing module that is being tested. The latest flight tests expanded Wildcat's hover envelope; in addition, the full-scale test platform achieved transitions to forward flight for the first time.

Key systems such as the heavy-fuel propulsion system, the fuel and the flight controls passed validation in both hover and horizontal flight. Aerodynamic performance across various airspeeds and flight profiles was also confirmed.

Next step for the VTOL drone: maritime missions

According to a press release, AV is currently integrating mission-critical payloads. With them, Wildcat is to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), communications and other tactical effects from a single modular platform. On the next steps, the release states: “In the next phase of flight testing, Wildcat will conduct simulated maritime missions – transitioning between hover and forward flight while executing payload-driven tasks in representative operational scenarios.”