Targets built to be flown against.

A target is part of a test system. The requirement therefore starts with the decision the test must support, such as development, acceptance or operator training. The observable job follows: the speed and altitude corner, maneuver in the presentation window, and any signature or payload requirement the system under test must see.

Writing those needs before selecting an airframe prevents the vehicle from becoming the objective. The mission can then be divided into launch, climb, transit, presentation, egress and recovery. Time in the required presentation condition matters separately from total endurance, and each segment gives propulsion and control work a condition to close against.

The same brief carries launch method, recovery method, payload allowance, telemetry needs, operating environment, repeatability tolerances and the assumed treatment of attrition. Genesis scopes the concept against that requirement set and records any open requirement before configuration work.

Orion-T1 is the published configuration example. It is a concept target drone with a blended chin inlet, hollow area-scheduled S-duct, aft-mounted engine, air-launch and parachute recovery. The airframe length is 5,100 mm, and the engine face sits at x = 2,900 mm with the nozzle exit at x = 4,280 mm.

Those choices are coupled. Air-launch makes separation a design condition. Parachute recovery reserves space and mass in the vehicle. An aft engine requires the inlet path to reach the compressor face, while the engine mass and station feed the aircraft balance. The T1 release keeps those interfaces in one airframe model.

The published mass entries are explicit: structure from the skin model, the Orion engine, a declared systems budget and usable fuel. Together they close at 696.5 kg. The balance record places the center of gravity at 2,497 mm (49.0% length) with a static margin of 0.130 MAC. These values come from the published concept model.

The T1 simulation receipt contains 6 cards. They cover trim, launch separation, maximum level speed, climb, sustained turn, and fuel and thrust anchors. Each card states the condition, the expected behavior and the measured simulation result before a verdict is reported.

The launch-separation card starts at 3 km / M0.45. Its measured result is max α 1.0°, max altitude loss 16 ft, ROC +192 fpm by t=15 s, against the expectation α < 12°, loss < 300 ft, positive ROC. The maximum-level-speed card at 5 km, military thrust reports stabilised Mach 0.967 against Mach ≥ 0.75.

The fuel and thrust card compares the aircraft model with the engine cycle deck. It reports TSFC 129.0 vs cycle 128.9; thrust error 2.3% and 4.1% against an expectation of within ±10% of the cycle model. This is a model-correlation check inside the concept release, recorded from 6-DoF simulation.