Medusa Special Projects has developed a unique Powered Paraglider program it has termed “Serpent”.  The Serpent Program consists of several form factor vehicles named Hydras that primarily serve a persistent dwell-time ISR function and are designed for between 6 hours and 35 hours of airborne loiter time each, depending on the specific Hydra and its anticipated payload. Each platform is designed with the customer's specific requirements in mind.

The composite, high efficiency soft wings the Hydras employ are impervious to the traditional UV damage which occurs in most nylon wings.  The material allows wings to be flown that have varying aspect ratios for specific mission sets, with up to 70% reduction in wing weight. 

The actuator servos themselves have been tested in thousands of hours of airdrop flight testing time, without a single accident.

Possible payloads include EO/IR Sensor Suites, SIGINT Sensors, MASINT Sensors, SAR/GMTI Sensors, as well as a testing platform for various other requirements.

Medusa’s Elgin Range serves as the Restricted Area test facility and is situated beneath and within the confines of R2303A/B/C in southern Arizona within 10 miles of Fort Huachuca and the Black Tower Complex.  Convenient location and proximity from Medusa’s Tucson facility provides minimum time from customer-specific development to testing.

Initial fielding of the Hydras will be with Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (“COTS”) Generac and Rotax aviation powerplants.  Future Program efforts are intended to include 2 & 3-cylinder super-charged heavy-fuel (Diesel, JP-8 & Jet-A compatible) powerplants. Additionally, special launch and recovery capabilities are under development.