{"id":34114,"date":"2021-11-08T21:27:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T21:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:47:19","slug":"darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Dynetics proved they can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/unmanned\/2021\/11\/05\/darpa-nabs-gremlin-drone-in-midair-for-first-time\/\" target=\"_blank\">catch an X-61A Gremlin<\/a> drone in flight and bring it aboard a C-130A mothership. But the next step will be more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a conference call with reporters Monday, Dynetics\u2019 Gremlins program manager Tim Keeter said the program now must prove it can recover multiple drones repeatedly, reliably and quickly enough for real-world operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For DARPA, Keeter said, making the American program work at an \u201coperationally relevant rate\u201d would mean being able to recover four drones within a half-hour. He called last month\u2019s successful test \u2014 the Gremlins\u2019 fourth such deployment \u2014 a milestone for both the program and unmanned aviation, adding that the effort could \u201cdramatically expand\u201d the military\u2019s ability to carry out distributed airborne operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also expressed confidence that with the program over \u201cthe biggest hump\u201d of proving airborne recovery can work, it will be able to reach its goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow we feel the momentum and the wind in our sails, and we\u2019re ready to get this thing moving towards an initial operational capability,\u201d Keeter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the program works as intended, he added, it could one day allow the military to deploy \u201cswarms\u201d of drones into denied areas. That way, the mothership could stay out of harm\u2019s way while the drones gather intelligence, conduct targeting or perform other functions with their sensors in dangerous airspace. The drones also could be deployed early in a conflict to overwhelm an adversary with numbers, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And eventually, Keeter said, the military could use artificial intelligence to allow these drones to behave autonomously, albeit with minimal supervision. However, the Gremlins program is not directly using AI right now for its flight demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat that might look like in a larger-scale conflict would be multiple sensors working together and fusing, that the Gremlins would carry into a contested environment, where right now even one operator could control up to four of those,\u201d Keeter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If one Gremlin in the swarm is shot down, Keeter added, the rest of the drones could adjust for its loss and still carry out the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Late last year, DARPA carried out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2020\/12\/11\/the-first-nine-attempts-to-retrieve-swarming-gremlins-drones-failed-heres-whats-next\/\" target=\"_blank\">a series of flight tests<\/a> in which nine attempts were made to recover three Gremlins, none of which were successful due to greater-than-expected turbulence that kept the drones from locking into the docking station. After those tests, Keeter said, the program analyzed the data to identify ways to lessen the turbulence that stymied those recovery attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brandon Hiller, Dynetics\u2019 chief engineer for the Gremlins program, said the program saw several key improvements put in place since the late 2020 test to make it possible to catch the drone in the docking bullet, shut down drone operations and reel it in. The finetuning was almost entirely in the program\u2019s software, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More work remains until the Gremlin program meets DARPA\u2019s goal of four recoveries in 30 minutes, Hiller said \u2014 but the program thinks it has a path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cBut \u2026 we know what needs to change in the system, both from a hardware and a software perspective, to get us to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeter thinks the program will be able to carry out the quick recovery of multiple Gremlins during their next deployment, though he could not say when that might take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, the program will soon move onto its next phase, which will demonstrate how the drones would perform on a mission. That would mean \u201cputting it together with payloads and single operators controlling multiple vehicles in a live-virtual-constructive environment, performing different aspects of the missions [to] showcase what this capability could really do and how it could help transform our military,\u201d Keeter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, the Gremlins recovery system can be adapted to other aircraft, meaning the program won\u2019t always need to use the C-130A as its mothership, Keeter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first successful airborne Gremlin recovery took place Oct. 29 at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It was the third flight in that test. The first Gremlin that took flight that day had a power problem that developed quickly, and the drone was lost before its parachute recovery system could fully deploy. The cause of that Gremlin\u2019s loss was first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2021\/11\/a-mothership-finally-recovers-darpas-gremlins-drone-but-its-not-all-good-news\/\" target=\"_blank\">Breaking Defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeter called the loss of that Gremlin \u201ca great disappointment,\u201d but one that was part of the learning process. The team saw that either an anomaly or equipment issue caused it to go wrong, and team members switched to a different configuration to avoid that problem in the other flights. He declined to go into further detail without DARPA\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you have a system with this many complexities and things interacting together, you come prepared for lots of options to fly with,\u201d Keeter said. \u201cCertain options may put you in areas where you\u2019re more likely to encounter other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second drone that flew in the test was not recovered in midair, instead parachuting to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third drone was the one that was recovered and was turned around for a second flight within 24 working hours. However that drone\u2019s second flight was not recovered in midair, and it too landed on the ground \u201cfairly softly\u201d with the help of its parachute, Keeter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"news"},"4":{"categories":["news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"news"},"9":{"categories":["industry","home","daily-brief","newsletters","unmanned"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[7,160,12,49,36,27,167],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-34114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-techwatch","category-newsletters","category-unmanned","category-unmanned-systems"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6IDFBOJWJFC3LCUXEC4R24FBME","arc_canonical_url":"\/industry\/techwatch\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour? - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 901,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Industry\",\n\t                \"MilTech\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Unmanned\",\n\t                \"Unmanned Systems\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour? - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/08\\\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"air\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour? - Defense News","description":"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?","og_description":"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00","author":"Stephen Losey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Losey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?","datePublished":"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/"},"wordCount":901,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg","articleSection":["Air Warfare","Daily News Roundup","Industry","MilTech","Newsletters","Unmanned","Unmanned Systems"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/","name":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour? - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-08T21:27:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:47:19+00:00","description":"The Gremlins program needs to show it can recover four drones back to back to prove it can be operationally relevant.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/11\/08\/darpa-has-caught-a-gremlin-drone-in-midair-can-it-grab-four-in-a-half-hour\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Air Warfare","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/","ad_zone":"air"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DARPA.jpeg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34117,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34114\/revisions\/34117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34114"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=34114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}