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US 2016/0355261 A1Published application
Airborne Drone Launch and Recovery Apparatus
OwnerHoward Martin Chin, Kimberly A. Carrahainventors
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OwnerHoward Martin Chin, Kimberly A. Carrahainventors
Estimating the term…
An airborne drone launch and recovery apparatus for selectively launching drones located on the underside of a carrier aircraft or recovering drones following flight of the drones, the airborne launch and recovery apparatus has an extensible stinger slidable along the length of a stinger sheath between a retracted position proximal the rear portion of the carrier aircraft and an extended position in front of the carrier aircraft, and a catcher shuttle carried on the forward part of the stinger for extending into the non-turbulent air in front of the carrier aircraft when the stinger is in the extended position. The carrier shuttle includes a launch/recovery assembly for selectively either having a locked condition for the recovery guide of a drone prior to the positioning of the catcher shuttle in a selected for the launch of the drone, and having an open condition for receiving the recovery guide of a drone at the termination of the flight of the drone to terminate the flight.
An airborne drone launching and recovery apparatus for use on a carrier aircraft for launching drones having a recovery guide from the carrier aircraft or for recovering drones from the carrier aircraft following flight of the drones, said airborne drone launch and recovery apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.