The U.S. Air Force is close to achieving its goal of low-cost surveillance drones with a new autonomous drone called the Ultra Long-Endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA). Developed by DZYNE Technologies with the Air Force Research Laboratory, ULTRA can fly for more than three days and is already flying missions in the Middle East.
ULTRA was kept secret until May when pictures of it at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates were released by U.S. Central Command. The Air Force officially began buying ULTRA in the 2025 budget, requesting four drones for $35 million, as part of the DOD’s small business innovation research program.
ULTRA can fly for 80 hours without refueling, carry up to 400 pounds of payload, and costs significantly less than legacy surveillance aircraft like the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. The Air Force is looking to replace expensive aircraft with cheaper, more capable drones like ULTRA to fill reconnaissance gaps.
Developed from DZYNE’s Long Endurance Aircraft Program (LEAP), ULTRA uses commercially available parts to keep costs low. It can perform long-endurance missions in areas like the Indo-Pacific and Africa, providing mission flexibility for commanders in challenging environments.
Overall, ULTRA provides the Air Force with a cost-effective solution for surveillance missions in various regions, offering significant advantages over traditional surveillance aircraft in terms of cost, endurance, and capability.
