In April, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) conducted two flight demonstrations at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland using a scale-model F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighter. In the first test, the 50-pound model aircraft sustained the loss of nearly 40 percent of one wing and, in the second, nearly 60 percent. In both cases, "damage-tolerance" software successfully compensated for the normally debilitating change in aerodynamics and safely landed the airplane without the aid of a ground-based operator. This was the first time that an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), operating autonomously, was able to recover from such catastrophic in-flight damage. In an interview published July 9 in Military Times, David Vos, senior director of Control Technologies at Rockwell Collins, revealed more about the April test — and its somewhat surprising results.