🇺🇸 General Atomics’ Gambit Drones To Have Different Airframes With Common ‘Cores’

⬛️ General Atomics is pitching a modular family of drones intended to perform various missions alongside manned aircraft that all use a common chassis-like ‘core.’

⬛️ General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, or GA-ASI, has announced its new Gambit Series of unmanned combat aircraft, expanding upon the inaugural Gambit drone unveiled by the company this March. The family of drones will be made up of four uniquely different airframes that all leverage a novel common core. The idea is similar to how various automotive ‘body kits’ can share a common chassis, drivetrain, and electronics backbone, which could potentially offer big opportunities for mission and performance customization while still leveraging economies of scale.

⬛️ The unveiling took place amid this year’s Air & Space Force Association Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The Gambit Series is among the most notable announcements coming from GA-ASI as the company claims that drones will be pivotal in preserving air dominance on an increasingly human-less battlefield. The company is also specifically pitching the entire series as its answer to the U.S. Air Force’s future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) requirements. CCA is a component of the service’s larger Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, which includes multiple initiatives aimed at developing next-generation families of aircraft by leveraging the resources of different companies to achieve a cost- and time-efficient manufacturing process.

⬛️ According to GA-ASI, each model in the series, aptly named Gambit 1 through 4, will be engineered with a central physical core structure on top of which the rest of the aircraft is to be attached. This common set of hardware has been dubbed the ‘Gambit Core’ and is made up of landing gear, baseline avionics, a chassis, and other essential functions.

⬛️ With the novel Gambit Core, GA-ASI hopes to pull inspiration from the automotive industry and manufacture Gambit drones through methods reminiscent of a commercial vehicle assembly line. The company claims that the Gambit Core will account for about 70% of the price among the various Gambit-series airframes, which could thereby lower manufacturing costs and increase development speed.

⬛️ “Imagine watching a wheelset, chassis, and powertrain produced on an automotive assembly line,” read the GA-ASI press release. “One kit might turn left in the factory and become a luxury sedan. The next might turn right and become the family economy model. The common platform saves cost and complexity for the manufacturer. The different trim and other options offer choice and value to the buyer.”

⬛️ The Gambit Core can then be transformed into any of the four variants to support their unique missions, according to GA-ASI. The company explains that the addition of different engines, fuselages, wings, and other internal and external characteristics will be included in this process, which will result in the visually distinctive Gambit drones set to make up the new family.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/gambit-family-of-drones-will-have-different-airframes-but-a-common-core

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