UNITED STATES OF AMERICA —A strategic contract exceeding $6 million has been granted by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance the development of an autonomous, jet-assisted aerial resupply system capable of operating without runway infrastructure. The initiative focuses on the Long-Range Grasshopper, a specialized logistics platform designed to deliver critical material into contested and isolated operating environments. All developmental work will be executed under Ondas Sentinel, the dedicated defense unit of Ondas Inc., following its recent acquisition of unmanned systems developer DZYNE Technologies.
Ondas Inc. is a publicly traded US defense and technology corporation specializing in autonomous systems, robotics, and mission-critical communications across aerial, terrestrial, and stratospheric domains. DZYNE Technologies, now integrated within Ondas Sentinel, designs and manufactures long-endurance intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft as well as specialized autonomous logistics systems.
This defense agreement highlights a shift within military logistics toward low-cost, attritable unmanned assets capable of sustaining distributed force deployments. By combining extended flight range, modular payload capacity, and autonomous navigation designed for GPS-denied tactical environments, the Grasshopper platform addresses severe supply chain vulnerabilities inherent in high-threat combat zones. The system builds upon a flight-tested glider architecture engineered to deliver payloads up to 500 pounds, allowing military personnel to execute rapid resupply while keeping primary crewed transport aircraft outside danger zones.
For defense contractors and technology investors, the award reflects growing US Department of Defense expenditure targeted at scalable, resilient logistics platforms aligned with Agile Combat Employment strategies. The integration of commercial manufacturing techniques to produce cost-effective autonomous military hardware signals increasing commercial disruption within traditional defense procurement markets. Beyond immediate military applications, the maturation of runway-independent heavy-payload delivery platforms establishes technical foundations that could eventually alter remote industrial and emergency humanitarian logistics operations worldwide.
