Tests conducted last December were a failure, with three drones having to make emergency parachute landings, but last month, at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, a C-130 was able to successfully recover one of two X-61 Gremlin drones in mid-air (the second unfortunately didn’t make it). The test proves the approach is feasible, and while the process in no way looks easy, as more and more successful captures are completed, the techniques will be further improved until one day capturing a drone in mid-flight is as common a practice as mid-air refueling.
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The accomplishment raises another possibility. Immediately popping off the engine covers of a drone that’s been flying for hours and dismantling its components for inspections isn’t advisable. But one day, in addition to topping off fuel tanks, drones like these could even possibly be repaired and made ready for the next mission inside the belly of a cargo plane, without either aircraft actually having to land first.