Lockheed Martin Sikorsky announced during the Farnborough air show that it has completed initial ground and flight testing of its NOMAD 100 uncrewed aerial system (UAS) in collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration (EVADE) program.

This is a significant milestone in the development of what Sikorsky proposes as a family of Vertical Take Off and Landing, tail-sitting rotor-blown flying wings with a pair of rotor-propulsors. This is a formula previously adopted by several companies, including Lockheed Martin, in response to the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) requirement pursued by DARPA from 2014 for a high-performance drone capable of shipboard operations. Lockheed Martin, as is well known, acquired Sikorsky in 2015 and remains the owner of the company.

This very particular drone formula, which may utilize a hybrid-electric powertrain at least in its smallest size aircraft, is intended to facilitate confined and austere areas of operation, allowing tactical employment even in the thick of an urban environment, on ships and from a variety of austere surfaces, without need for a runway.

The formula of the NOMAD family has now carried on development through several successive DARPA initiatives, in particular AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) and subsequently EVADE, which scaled the vertical-take-off drone requirement up to the 330-pound weight threshold, giving rise to what has now become the NOMAD 100.

In October 2025, LM Sikorsky had flown the smallest member of the family as demonstrator for the whole concept. The NOMAD 50 had a wingspan of just over 3.1 metres (10.3 feet). At these dimensions, hybrid-electric propulsion solutions are used to achieve maximum efficiency.

It was announced at the time that work was underway on NOMAD 100 as well, and now flying trials of this larger drone have begun. An “intensive flight test campaign at a government facility” is now planned, to demonstrate a host of missions and demonstrate the NOMAD 100’s multirole potential.

At the time, NOMAD 100 was said to have a wingspan of approximately 5.5 metres (18 feet). The NOMAD 100 is described as a Class 3 drone, meaning its maximum take-off weight will not exceed 600 kg (1,320 pounds). In some of the images released by LM Sikorsky, the NOMAD 100 appears carrying 4 small weapons on hardpoints under the fuselage, arranged in tandems of 2 on either side of a fairing culminating in the EO/IR gimball.

The video from the tethered flight test, on the other hand, blurs out details of both the engines and the middle body of the fuselage.vPlans also call for a subsequent Class 4 version with an external payload of 500 pounds for armaments that could include HELLFIRE missiles or a pair of Small Diameter Bombs.

The renders released by LM Sikorsky also include a notional Category 5 drone of more ambitious size and performance, shown carrying a substantial load of armaments and “air-launched effects” — a family of air-launched drones and long-range munitions that are themselves still being defined.

The Class 3 and 4 NOMAD systems are also aimed at the evolving US Army requirements to replace the RQ-7 SHADOW and, further down the line, the MQ-1C GRAY EAGLE. Naturally, LM Sikorsky will also be watching closely the naval opportunities that were the primary focus of TERN and that could feed into a future US Navy and/or US Marine Corps requirement.

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