The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has another program called the AdvaNced Airplane Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY X-Plane (ANCILLARY).

It aims to create and demonstrate the technologies required for the production of an upward departure and landing (VTOL), low-weight, high-payload, long-endurance airplane.

ANCILLARY wants to build a plane that can launch from ship flight decks and small austere land locations in adverse weather, without the launch and recovery equipment that is commonly required for the existing systems.