New Drone Launch & Recovery System: Talon

Army Times has reported on Talon, a new drone recovery system manufactured by Target Arm LLC. The Talon was officially introduced at the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Talon is described by the manufacturer as, “a revolutionary system, currently in R&D, that launches and recovers Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from another airborne platform.”

Talon can launch and recover drones at air speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Ever since this drone was presented to the army officials, everyone was impressed by the prototype.

Talon enables rapid launch and recovery of large numbers of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), to include swarming formations, allowing for inflight rearming and refueling aboard a mothership/arsenal ship.

The result will be revolutionary and global, spanning the full spectrum of CONOPS – from Special Ops, to ISR, to FEMA/DHS for man-made and natural disasters, to USCG Search & Rescue, to persistent battlespace presence and air dominance in an Area Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) conflict.

Based on the Precision Pin Array Chambering System (PACS) patent, Talon enables new and innovative tactics and strategies well into the future. Talon has the potential to create an almost instantaneous, global, airborne aircraft carrier capability with UASs for deterrence and/or employment.  As a result, Talon can deploy substantial UAS presence globally within 24hours, without the need for ground support and runways, and without the logistics for ground personnel and force protection.

A “Simple But Elegant” Way to Restore and Collect Drones

A deputy to the MCoE commanding general named Don Sando, told Army Times that the Talon was a “simple but elegant” way to retrieve drones. However, many army officials confirmed that it is critical that drones remain mobile in order to be restored by the Talon – so that they cannot be tracked by the enemy.

In the end, the fact that the US Army is considering to use the Talon is enough to prove that this flytrap-like robot has a massive potential.