A logo for the Pendleton Unmanned Aircraft Systems Range adorns a trailer in a hangar at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton, during an event in 2021.

PENDLETON — An unmanned aircraft system developer at the Pendleton UAS Range announced it has won a $1.8 million contract for a drone that can deliver more than 500 pounds farther than 200 nautical miles.

Silent Arrow, in a statement Nov. 18, reported the Air Force Research Laboratory selected it for a Small Business Innovation Research contract focused on building and flight testing the Silent Arrow CLS-200 — Contested Logistics System, 200 Nautical Miles — attritable special missions unmanned aircraft system.

Chip Yates, Silent Arrow’s founder and CEO, thanked the Air Force, the AFRL and others for the award that expands Silent Arrow’s warfighter offerings. He also said in the announcement the flight testing at its Pendleton facility “will be exciting as we longline airdrop five units from our UH-1H rotorcraft and then deliver a sixth unit to the Air Force for their hands-on evaluation.”

According to the announcement, the CLS-200 relies on the foundational engineering of the commercially successful Silent Arrow GD-2000, the world’s first heavy payload, autonomous and attritable cargo delivery aircraft to enter full-rate production.

The GD-2000 is an unpowered glider, but the new CLS-200 can travel six times as far using an innovative propulsion unit and propeller system that are inexpensive enough to allow the entire cargo drone to be single-use. In addition to being air droppable, it also will be capable of taking off from the ground, including from unimproved surfaces, naval vessels and other launch points.

For more information, visit www.Silent-Arrow.com.