BQM - 147 Dragon The BAI Aerosystems ( BAIA ) BQM - 147 Dragon unmanned aerial vehicle is a tactical battlefield UAV operated by the US Marine Corps . Development . The Dragon began life in 1986 , when the US Marines Corps contracted with the Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL ) , an offshoot of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , Maryland , that works on government technology development contracts , to build a small piston - powered UAV as an " expendable jammer " for battlefield electronics warfare . The program was logically named " ExJam " . BAI Aerosystems was a subcontractor to APL and provided airframe parts . " Creeping featurism " infected the program as the Marines considered more applications for the little drone , and in 1987 the program was given the new name of BQM - 147A " Expendable Drone " or " Exdrone " . However , APL wasn ' t able to meet the schedule requested by the Marines for fielding the Exdrone , and so the program was passed on to BAI Aerosystems , with the Navy assisting by developing a video imaging system for tactical reconnaissance . The NASA Langley Flight Research Center also assisted in the development effort , performing wind - tunnel tests and making recommendations for aerodynamic improvements , and after these changes the BQM - 147A Exdrone went into service with the Marines in time to help them chase the Iraqis out of Kuwait City . A few years later , the UAV - JPO also bought several hundred Exdrones for demonstrations and training to help get tactical officers in tune with battlefield UAV capabilities . The current " Dragon Drone " is an improved version of the Exdrone , obtained through a 1996 contract with the Marines . BAI renamed the UAV since the Exdrone wasn ' t really all that expendable , given that it carried a reasonably sophisticated sensor system and flight avionics . The Dragon Drone is a flying wing with a single tailfin that is symmetrically designed to allow it to fly with either side up . The Dragon Drone is powered by a small piston engine . It can carry one of three different plug - in turrets , featuring daylight color TV with a laser rangefinder , daylight color TV , or infrared imager . It can also be fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank for increased range . Condor . The United States Coast Guard is now procuring a " navalized " version of the Dragon Drone under the name " Condor " , and intends to use it with Coast Guard cutters and similar small ocean - patrol vessels . The Condor will be useful for missions such as search and rescue or hunting drug traffickers . Launching and recovering a UAV off such small vessels is troublesome . Naval UAVs have traditionally been launched with a catapult or RATO boosters , and recovered using a net . Not only is this approach unsuited to smaller vessels , it is also not particularly reliable even on large vessels , with catapult launches causing drone damage , catapult failures leading to loss of the drone , and recoveries similarly leading to damage through collisions and unintended ditching . A Saint Louis , Missouri , company named Advanced Aerospace Technologies Incorporated ( AATI ) has come up with an alternative scheme for launching and recovering a Dragon Drone or other small UAV from small vessels . The scheme involves the use of a parasail and is referred to the " runway in the sky ( RITS ) " . In AATI demonstrations , a Dragon Drone is attached to a piggyback frame that harnesses the drone to the parasail . The parasail is reeled out into the wind until it reaches an altitude of about 250 meters ( 800 feet ) . The drone is then released , diving until it builds up enough speed for the operator to pull it out of the dive and sent it on its mission . In recovery , the parasail is used to lift a tow line into the sky , with the tow line trailing a series of recovery lines hanging between the parasail and the ship . The drone is flown into the recovery lines , and a snaplock mechanism on the drone ' s wing grabs onto a line . The drone is then reeled back down to the ship . The tow line has more " give " to it than a recovery net , reducing the likelihood of damage . The current RITS scheme can handle UAVs weighing up to 180 kilograms ( 400 pounds ) , but AATI thinks it can be scaled up to handle larger aircraft . AATI claims the system is inexpensive and easy to use . They also point out that the parasail could also be used to loft an antenna to allow over - the - horizon communications with a UAV . Whether the Coast Guard intends to use this scheme or not is uncertain , but it certainly is an interesting concept .