Naval Research Laboratory Flyrt

Lore & Background

Begun in 1991, the Flyrt program was intended to produce an expendable decoy drone that required no new aboardship infrastructure for defending warships against radar-guided antiship missiles. The drone had a conventional configuration with a low-mounted folding wing and a cruciform tail section, with an electric motor mounted in the nose. Launch was via a rocket booster providing 1.6 seconds of thrust from the Mark 137 launcher of the Mark 36 SRBOC system; the use of the Mark 36 launcher constrained the drone's size, which was designed to compact into a package the size of a standard NATO Mark 36 chaff rocket. The tail fins unfolded immediately on launch, while the wing deployed and the motor started after burnout as the aircraft coasted to the apogee of a ballistic trajectory. The expendable Flyrt carried a radio repeater with two antennae for spoofing enemy radar signals.

Following a series of ballistic tests to verify launcher compatibility, the Flyrt trial program moved to full-scale tests. The drone's first flight occurred on 9 September 1993. Thirteen drones were constructed for the program, conducted at the NRL's Chesapeake Bay Detachment. The program was considered successful, but no production was undertaken.

Reader's Guide

The Flyrt program demonstrated a concept for an expendable, ship-launched radar decoy drone that leveraged existing shipboard infrastructure—specifically the Mark 36 SRBOC launcher—to minimize integration costs. Its design constraints, dictated by the need to fit within a standard NATO chaff rocket package, resulted in a compact folding-wing airframe with an electric motor and rocket-boosted launch. The successful test flights in 1993 validated the feasibility of such a system for protecting warships against radar-guided antiship missiles. However, despite the program's technical success, no production order followed, and the Flyrt did not enter service. Its legacy lies in illustrating an approach to naval electronic warfare that combined off-the-shelf launcher compatibility with a purpose-built decoy drone, a concept that would influence later expendable decoy systems. The program also highlighted the challenges of transitioning a successful prototype into a production program within the defense procurement environment of the early 1990s.

Did You Know?

• The Flyrt was designed to fit into the same package size as a standard NATO Mark 36 chaff rocket.
• Thirteen drones were built for the test program.