EAGELS (Expendable Airlift Glider Expeditionary Logistics System) is an SBIR Phase II program sponsored by DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the development and flight demonstration of a low cost, unmanned glider aircraft that would deliver a high volume of supplies quickly to distributed ground units. The key objective is to be able to deliver supplies at significantly lower cost than manned helicopters. EAGELS solves this problem by using a low-cost expendable glider with a detachable motor. At the proper altitude and distance, the motor is released from the aircraft and is flown back to launch point with a parafoil. The aircraft will then glide into the contested area and deliver its payload. PiAC has built this technology demonstrator aircraft and will flight demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. This program has application for not only DoD logistics commands but also DHS (Department of Homeland Security), FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Department of Agriculture (Forest Service) for civil, humanitarian and disaster relief missions.
