General Atomics Sparrowhawk
The General Atomics Sparrowhawk is an unmanned parasite aircraft currently being developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI). First disclosed in 2019 and revealed to the public in September 2020, the Sparrowhawk is intended to offer the United States Air Force a Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) capable of SIGINT/ELINT, ISR, radar imaging, jamming and the possibility for future roles. Design and development Origins The Sparrowhawk is derived from the General Atomic's submission to the DARPA Gremlins program, which aimed at developing small UAVs that could be deployed and recovered midair by a mothership aircraft. Chris Pehrson, the vide-president of strategic development for Department of Defense customers with General Atomics, stated in 2019 that the planned first flight of the UAV would be in 2020, with an sale to customers expected by 2021. The original information released about the Sparrowhawk (Then referred to as "SparrowHawk") stated it would be jet-powered. Design The Sparrowhawk is a low-wing monoplane with a V-tail configuration. It features a unique wing that can be rotated 90 degrees between stowed and in-flight positions, similar to how an oblique wing works. The wing is stowed while being carried by its parent aircraft, and is deployed when it