Welcome to Logistic Gliders Inc.

Logistic Gliders Inc. was founded in 2011 to develop innovations in aerial resupply for the U.S. military. Our goal is to identify less expensive means of aviation logistic support. We are currently working on low-cost, disposable, single-use unpowered & powered gliders. 

Our gliders are low cost, long range, stealthy, disposable aircraft designed for autonomous agile cargo distribution in “contested logistics” and anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environments. They are sized to deliver up to 1,600 pound (725 kg) payloads and can be deployed from cargo aircraft or helicopters. They are constructed with low cost materials and could land anywhere a parachute can. 

Potential missions include: 

• Humanitarian resupply of besieged cities or military units
• Delivery of rescue supplies to downed aircrew
• Aerial resupply in contested logistics and A2/AD environments
• Ship-to-shore cargo delivery
• Resupply of remote inaccessible areas
• Aerial decoy
• Aerial target
• Drone swarms
• Reconnaissance
• Carriage of electronic counter measures
• Support for psychological operations
• Logistic support for firefighting

Key Features:

• 50% greater glide range as compared to the competition 
• Gliders can land on their belly if terrain is flat 
• Parachute allows landing into urban canyons, small clearings, forest or jungles, and rough, hilly or mountainous terrain
• Glider’s fuselage can be used as the glider's shipping container
• Cargo access via two lightweight (less than 5 lb or 2 kg) interchangeable cargo hatches located on the top of the fuselage
• Glider's simplicity of design and construction allows mass production in large quantities in very short periods

Logistic Gliders has completed twenty (20) prototype glider flight tests at 100% scale. Gliders are disposable single use by design, so each test required a new glider. 

• 3 of the 20 were augmented with power to significantly extend their range
• 2 gliders were deployed from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules
• 8 gliders were deployed from a Shorts SC-7 Skyvan
• 10 gliders were deployed from a helicopter sling load (1 from Hiller CJ-5, 2 from Bell 206, 5 from Hughes MD-500D, and 2 from Sikorsky S-58T)
• 8 gliders were flown via Radio Control (RC) using First Person Video (FPV)
• 12 gliders were flown autonomously
• Total full-scale glider flight time of 1 hour, 40 minutes, & 11 seconds
• Unpowered 12 to 1 glide ratio demonstrated during a 35.4 nautical mile (nmi) or 65.5 kilometer (km) distance flight test
• Anticipate achieving an unpowered 15 to 1 glide ratio with upgraded wing
• 15 to 1 glide provides 61 nmi (71 statue miles or 114 km) range from 25,000 ft (7600 m) deployment altitude
• Maximum payload carried during a flight test was 708 pounds (321 kg). LG-2K RAIN glider is capable of carrying up to 1,600 lb (725 kg), however this has not been flight tested yet
• Maximum deployment altitude during a flight test was 20,000 ft (6100 m) - the maximum allowable altitude for the carrier aircraft (Shorts SC-7 Skyvan). Our gliders are designed for deployment from 35,000 ft (10700 m) or higher
• Completed 58 flight tests with 25% scale model
• Completed 37 flight tests with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used to test glider avionics
• Flight tested 7 different landing parachutes at full-scale
• First 25% scale model flight test occurred on 3 September 2011
• First 100% scale prototype flight test was on 27 March 2012
• Latest 100% scale prototype flight test (20th) was on 12 November 2020
• Latest 25% scale model flight test was on 25 August 2021
• Very long range Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) Command & Control (C2) achieved in laboratory environment on 9 December 2021