The company has been developing it completely in-house and has already racked up 400 hours of flight time at its test range in Yuma Arizona since beginning flight tests last May, including a 12-hour endurance flight carrying half of its maximum payload. And, as of April of this year, the company reports that the Fury has begun regularly flying these long-haul missions as they begin to ramp up formal production.

The 17-foot wingspan Fury can loiter at an altitude of 15,000 feet for up to 15 hours while carrying a 200 pound payload and fuel. Depending on its payload, the uav can serve as a reconnaissance platform, providing ISR (Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) data to friendly forces on the ground or intercepting enemy radio and cell signals, or act as a communications relay, bouncing voice and sat comm signals back to base.

Despite its size, the UAV is launched from a catapult and recovered by flying it into a net -- similar to how DARPA's recently revealed SideArm system operates. This isn't the first time that the defense industry has toyed with the idea of runway-free drones either. In 2015, the US Navy announced that it was developing swarm drone technology (accurately dubbed, the LOCUST project) using low-cost, tube-launched Coyote UAVs.

There's no word yet on when the Fury will enter service. Lockheed reports that it is currently in talks with domestic and international customers.