Under a Phase II SBIR sponsored by AFRL NextGen, in partnership with the University of Southern California and SRI International, has developed a novel biomimetic morphing UAV with telescopic wings and splaying / pivoting tail.

The wingspan can change by a factor of 2 and the wing area by a factor of 4, enabling the L/D ratio to be optimized across a wide range of flight speeds, while maintaining stability about all axes. The splaying and articulating tail section is enabled by electrolaminate technology developed and patented by SRI. The bio-mimetic fuselage design minimizes fuselage interference effects on the overall lift distribution over the wing.