Resources

Cubic remote-pilot patent was maintained through March 2014

US6641087B1: 4-year fee 4 May 2007, 8-year fee 4 May 2011, expired 4 Nov 2015 for later non-payment. Continuation US10/684,316 abandoned 18 Jan 2007. IP interest retained; prototype/certification still OPEN.

MAGIC/Orion continued in USAF development after 2014

Confirmed by PB2020. Congressional adds through FY2018. The ‘faded after 2014’ formulation is a correction, not a secrecy finding.

FIRST RF Phase II — dual-band UHF/X-band airborne SAR

FA8650-11-C-1016 · $749,593 · start 26 Jan 2011 · topic AF093-138

Official SBIR: lightweight dual-band UHF/X-band SAR on a modified Artemis COTS radar plus FIRST RF single-aperture antenna. SWaP ~20 lb / 150 W. Design target included Shadow 200. A concrete alternative to treating Orion as the unnamed FY2013 RF Persistent Sensing platform.

FY2013 NDAA Sec. 927 — integrated SIGINT / WAMI plan

Congressional Record 12 Dec 2012 · ISR Task Force plan due 1 Jan 2013

Statute required a plan for operationally integrated SIGINT able to detect, track and precisely geolocate high-band devices and immediately cue imagery. Named Army Guardrail / ARGUS A160, USAF Blue Moon QRC and DARPA WAND. Consult NSA and USSOCOM.

Orion flight 18 — 80-hour record with 1,000 lb ballast

December 2014 · not an ISR-payload demonstration

Aurora’s endurance attempt was flight 18 and carried 1,000 lb of ballast. Maiden flight (no mission system) and this record flight both fail as evidence of an operational ISR stack. Payload on flights 2–17 remains open.

USAF PB2020 — MAGIC/Orion continued after 2014

PE 0305205F · Congressional adds FY2015–FY2018

MAGIC/Orion did not fade from the budget after 2014. Adds: $20m FY2015, $5m FY2016, $50m FY2017, $40m FY2018, on top of $19m FY2012 and $50m FY2013. Post-2016 money was for airworthiness, cybersecurity, interoperability and mission capability toward a deployable Block 1 Orion.