Griffon Aerospace and a Textron (NYSE: TXT) business will further develop their unmanned vertical takeoff and landing system offerings after the U.S. Army exercised the third and fourth options in its other transaction agreements with the two vendors, DVIDS reported Thursday.
Textron Systems and Griffon Aerospace will perform flight demonstrations and modular open systems approach third-party verification under Option 3 of the Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System rapid prototyping program.
The third option period also includes a soldier touchpoint and testing of VTOL, rapid emplacement and reduced acoustic signature.
Under Option 4, the two companies will assess electromagnetic and environmental effects, conduct flight tests and deliver production-representative FTUAS prototypes, culminating in a production readiness review.
In September, the Army awarded Option 2 to Textron Systems and Griffon to establish a prototype baseline and move their platforms to the critical design review phase.
The first option period ended in a preliminary design review of weapon system designs from the vendors.
FTUAS seeks to provide warfighters with a capability to perform surveillance and reconnaissance operations to gather and report actionable intelligence and maintain advance in multidomain operations.
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