Sandman
Sandman flies programmed threat profiles for adversary-air training, helps pilots learn to work with autonomous aircraft, and can serve as a supersonic aerial target.
Explore Sandman's configuration, performance, programmable mission profiles, and autonomous flight systems.
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Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom| Length | 15.95 ft / 4.86 m |
| Wingspan | 11.04 ft / 3.37 m |
| Dry mass | ≤ 500 lb / 227 kg |
| Cruise speed | Mach 0.95 |
| Supersonic dash | Mach 1.2–1.4 |
| Flight ceiling | ~49,000 ft |
| Sortie duration | 40–90 min |
| Maneuver envelope | +7 / −3 g limit |
| Propulsion | Twin turbojet |
| Flight controls | Full-authority digital fly-by-wire |
| Ground operations | Runway takeoff & landing |
| Autonomy | Ground-to-ground autonomous mission |
Adversary-air training, crewed-uncrewed teaming, and supersonic aerial-target missions on one autonomous platform.
Program the route, altitude, speed, engagement geometry, maneuvering behavior, and reattack logic for each sortie.
Build the complete sortie around the training or test objective.
Change the way Sandman manages energy and responds during the mission.
Wide, smooth maneuvering that protects speed through repeated attacks.
Tighter reversals that trade energy for rapid nose positioning.
Rapid climb, fast closure, and attack from an energy advantage.
Programmed profiles operate within the aircraft flight envelope.
Sandman provides a purpose-built, live-fly environment for training the crews who will operate alongside Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Pilots and operators learn to assign mission intent, supervise multiple autonomous aircraft, manage decision authority, retask the team in flight, and evaluate mission execution without consuming operational combat aircraft or waiting for frontline CCA fleets to become broadly available.
Assign objectives, priorities, operating areas, and constraints rather than manually flying each aircraft.
Manage multiple autonomous aircraft through a common control interface.
Change objectives, formations, and assignments while airborne.
Define which decisions require human approval.
Train cooperative routing, formation management, and deconfliction.
Present aircraft status, autonomy intent, alerts, and recommendations.
Exercise lost-link behavior, delayed commands, and autonomous continuation.
Understand autonomy decisions and intervene when required.
Sandman can support threat-representative supersonic target missions within the aerial-target ecosystem used for realistic test and evaluation.
Title 10 establishes realistic survivability and lethality testing requirements for certain covered systems and munitions. The Department of Defense uses aerial targets to support those tests. Sandman provides a supersonic autonomous aircraft that can be configured for expendable missions when required.
Tell us about your program and the missions you need to fly. We'll follow up with a briefing.