U.S. DARPA Tests Sikorsky Nomad 100 Runway-Independent Drone for Long-Endurance Missions.

Sikorsky has completed the first ground and flight tests of its Nomad 100 uncrewed aircraft, the company announced on July 22, 2026, at the Farnborough International Airshow. The hybrid design could give forces a runway-independent platform capable of carrying sensors, communications gear, cargo, or weapons farther than similarly sized battery-powered multicopters.

The next test phase will move the aircraft to a U.S. government facility for more demanding multirole missions. Those trials will determine whether Nomad 100 can deliver the endurance, payload, transition reliability, and all-weather performance needed for operational use.

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Sikorsky’s Nomad 100 completes initial flight testing under DARPA’s EVADE program, advancing evaluation of a runway-independent Group 3 drone designed for reconnaissance, communications relay, logistics and potential precision-strike missions (Picture source: Lockheed Martin).

Nomad 100 uses a tail-sitting rotor-blown-wing configuration with two prop-rotors mounted on the wing. The aircraft stands vertically for takeoff and landing, using propeller thrust to hover, then rotates approximately 90 degrees to fly horizontally as a fixed-wing aircraft. Airflow from the prop-rotors passes over the wing during low-speed flight, increasing lift and control authority when normal aerodynamic surfaces are less effective. Once the aircraft completes the transition, the wing supports its weight, reducing the continuous power demand associated with helicopter or multicopter flight. Sikorsky describes the Nomad family as predominantly hybrid-electric, although it has not disclosed the Nomad 100’s engine type, generator output, battery capacity, fuel load, propeller diameter or propulsion redundancy. These omissions prevent an independent assessment of range, acoustic signature, thermal signature and survivability after a propulsion-system failure.

The design evolved from the smaller Nomad 50 technology demonstrator, which had a 10.3-foot composite wing and a reported weight of approximately 115 pounds. During testing completed in January 2025, Nomad 50 conducted more than 40 takeoffs and landings, made 30 transitions between vertical and horizontal flight, and reached 86 knots in cruise. Sikorsky also tested a full-scale model in a wind tunnel to compare predicted aerodynamic behavior with flight data and refine the control laws governing transition. Nomad 100 therefore represents a scale-up of an already flown configuration rather than a completely new aerodynamic concept. Still, scaling introduces additional problems: structural loads increase, propulsion response changes, inertia rises, and the flight-control system must manage a larger aircraft with more fuel and a heavier mission load.

EVADE is an accelerated derivative of DARPA’s AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY, or ANCILLARY, program. DARPA launched ANCILLARY to develop a vertical-takeoff aircraft able to operate from small land sites and ship decks without catapults, arresting equipment, or prepared runways. Nine companies entered the initial concept phase in 2023. Six advanced into the next design phase in 2024, and five- AeroVironment, Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Method Aeronautics, and Sikorsky- continued into EVADE. DARPA originally expected ANCILLARY flight testing to begin in late 2026, but created EVADE to bring aircraft into the air earlier by deferring some dimensional restrictions and requirements for autonomous operations in high sea states.

The schedule nevertheless requires scrutiny. In June 2025, DARPA said the five EVADE aircraft would begin flight testing that month and that successful systems could transition to military users by the end of calendar year 2025. Sikorsky’s announcement that Nomad 100 completed only its initial test phase in July 2026 shows that the company’s aircraft did not meet that public transition timeline. This does not establish a technical failure, because neither DARPA nor Sikorsky has explained the delay, but it means the program remains in risk-reduction testing rather than operational fielding. The forthcoming government campaign must establish whether Nomad 100 can repeatedly transition, carry useful payloads and operate with an acceptable maintenance burden before an Army, Marine Corps or naval customer can consider procurement.

DARPA’s common EVADE performance framework is more informative than Sikorsky’s release. Each design is intended to remain below 330 pounds maximum gross weight and achieve at least 12 hours of endurance while operating 100 nautical miles from its base with a 60-pound payload. These are program objectives, not demonstrated Nomad 100 results. The 60-pound allowance must cover the complete mission installation, including the sensor or weapon, mounting structure, wiring, processor, datalink equipment and, where necessary, a targeting device. A synthetic-aperture radar or electronic-surveillance package may consume most of that allowance. A logistics configuration could carry roughly 27 kilograms of ammunition, batteries, blood products, water or medical supplies, but actual delivered cargo would depend on packaging and environmental-control requirements.

Sikorsky has described reconnaissance, light attack and contested logistics as intended Nomad missions, but neither the company nor DARPA has identified a weapon integrated with Nomad 100. There is no public evidence of a captive-carry trial, safe-separation test, or live firing. A weaponized configuration would therefore require additional structural, aerodynamic, and software work. A 70-millimeter laser-guided rocket such as APKWS illustrates the integration problem: the rocket is lighter than many anti-armor missiles, but the aircraft would also need a launcher, release hardware, laser designation from the aircraft or an external source, electrical interfaces, and firing-authority software. Even when a munition fits within the nominal payload limit, external carriage increases drag and may reduce the 12-hour endurance objective. It can also change the center of gravity during vertical operations and produce exhaust effects near the wing or prop-rotors.

All five EVADE aircraft use Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy software for flight control and navigation. At the same time, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division’s Battle Management System manages mission payloads and interfaces with the Tactical Assault Kit. The common architecture is intended to reduce the need for a dedicated ground-control station and to allow soldiers or Marines to request information or task an aircraft through software already used at the tactical level. MATRIX has accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours and has been integrated into more than 20 aircraft types, but those aggregate figures do not demonstrate that Nomad 100 can independently handle degraded navigation, datalink interruption, engine malfunction, icing, or an emergency transition. Those conditions should form part of any service-level operational assessment.

For an Army brigade, Nomad 100 would occupy the space between short-endurance quadcopters and larger runway-dependent reconnaissance aircraft. A unit could disperse several aircraft among concealed launch sites, use one as a communications relay, another for electro-optical or radar surveillance, and a third for cargo delivery or precision engagement. The main operational advantage would not be vertical takeoff by itself, but the combination of vertical recovery with prolonged wing-borne flight. That combination could extend reconnaissance beyond artillery range, maintain communications over hills or urban terrain, and move limited quantities of critical supplies without assigning a helicopter and crew.

The current test is important because it begins to determine whether that combination is technically and economically credible. The relevant measures will be payload-range performance, transition reliability, launch-site footprint, personnel requirements, repair time, fuel consumption, signature, datalink resilience, and unit cost, not the simple fact that the aircraft has flown. Until DARPA publishes those results, Nomad 100 should be regarded as an experimental Group 3-class aircraft with a promising but unverified mission envelope, rather than a combat-ready reconnaissance or strike system.

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