AFRL Addresses Urgent Need for Single Pass AirDrop Capability Published April 3, 2012 By Brent Holmes Information ROME, New York -- In response to urgent Air Force needs, a capability to conduct high-altitude airdrop operations without making two passes was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The current airdrop process requires two passes by the aircraft before dropping supplies, putting the aircraft at risk. The Single Pass AirDrop (SPAiD) solution requires one single pass as supplies are dropped. One concept being pursued is using a Predator to release a drop sonde that measures wind speeds and direction and sends this information to the aircraft with the supplies. The SPAiD program completed a successful Form/Fit/Function test of the M34 TMS Pod by successfully mounting it aboard an M299 Hellfire Missile rail on an MQ-1 Predator drone at the Gray Butte test facility in Palmdale, California. The Pod, a modified M34 Inert Hellfire Missile training device, equipped with Tactical Meteorological System (TMS) components, looks and feels like a Hellfire missile but contains no propellant, cannot be launched from an aircraft, and carries no explosives. The Pod was developed as a solution to United States Air Forces Central urgent operational need (UON) requiring a method to inconspicuously acquire local weather conditions over a dropzone, to enable the accurate delivery of airdrop bundles. The only remaining requirements to reach TRL-7 are a final flight test and operational system's demo aboard an MQ-1, Predator RPA tentatively scheduled for late 2011 at Creech Air Force Base.