Griffon conducted flight tests with the US Army on Redstone Arsenal to qualify the next generation Outlaw aircraft officially designated as the Outlaw MQM-170 C. “The new target will be completely compatible with all current Outlaw Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and our current payloads to avoid any cost impacts to the large investment the US Army has made in support equipment and payloads over the past nine years,” said Larry French CEO of Griffon Aerospace. Our new aircraft will be lighter, faster, more aerodynamically efficient, and support a number of new options that we have been unable to support in the past. “When we designed the original Outlaw in 2002, we had no idea the kinds of things our customers would want to do with this aircraft,” said French. “The Targets Management Office (TMO) has been very proactive and entrepreneurial in developing new customer areas which has challenged our original design and I think we have now addressed all of the key performance areas,” continued French. “We kept all our key subsystems, like our engine and key electronic systems, because when you have less than a 1% loss rate over nine years you know you have good suppliers and subsystems,” continued French. The new aircraft is largely an air frame replacement, moving from a low wing to high wing design, replacing the foam filled wings with the more traditional rib and spar construction, while increasing fuselage shape and depth increasing payload and fuel capacity. “These flight tests have exceed my expectations and I think aerodynamically we hit a home run, my pilots tell me this thing wants to fly so you almost have to force it down,” concluded French.
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