An artist's depiction of what the small surveillance drones might look like.
Credit:
DARPA
The U.S. military is developing a fairy-tale-inspired "Gremlin" program that aims to launch and retrieve drones in midair.
"Gremlins" are a swarm of drones that can be deployed from a manned aircraft, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. military charged with developing new and innovative technologies for the nation's war fighters. The Gremlin program will allow aircraft pilots to launch the drones as needed, and call them back to the transport plane while both are still in flight.
DARPA announced the Gremlin concept in 2015, when the agency called for proof-of-concept designs for the first phase of the project. https://www.livescience.com/58390-darpa-gremlin-program-retrieves-drones-in-midair.html
