Patent: Apparatus and method for ordinance mounting system
Company: Lyell Loomis, Inc.
An Innovative Leap in Aerospace Payload Management
This groundbreaking invention by Lyell Loomis, Inc. is highly innovative because it completely reimagines how payloads and ordnance are secured to aircraft. Instead of relying on traditional, heavy, and complex mechanical latches or bomb racks, this system utilizes an active vacuum mounting module. By integrating a vacuum pump that is controllably coupled to a microcontroller, the system attaches ordnance securely to the wing or fuselage of a drone. To release the payload, the microcontroller simply dissipates the vacuum pressure, allowing for an instantaneous, frictionless drop. This drastically reduces the physical weight and aerodynamic drag of the mounting hardware, eliminates mechanical jamming risks, and maximizes the drone’s operational range and payload capacity.
Why It Won Patent of the Month (July 2026)
The “Apparatus and method for ordinance mounting system” was awarded Patent of the Month for the machine-tool-die-defense industry in July 2026 due to its disruptive impact on defense manufacturing and rapid drone deployment. In an industry where reliability, weight-saving, and modularity are paramount, this vacuum-based approach represents a paradigm shift. Tooling and defense manufacturers recognized that the elimination of moving mechanical parts reduces long-term maintenance overhead and assembly time on the production line. Its plug-and-play adaptability across different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provides defense contractors with a scalable, highly reliable solution for next-generation combat drones, making it a standout technological achievement for the month.
R&D Tax Credit Eligibility in the USA
The practical applications of this patent present excellent opportunities for aerospace and defense companies to claim the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit under Section 41 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Integrating this vacuum-based mounting system into a new or existing fleet of combat drones inherently involves resolving technological uncertainties through a process of experimentation. Engineering teams would need to design custom mounting interfaces, develop microcontroller software to ensure fail-safe release timing, and conduct extensive wind-tunnel and live-flight testing to verify that the vacuum seal holds under extreme aerodynamic stress, varying altitudes, and high-G maneuvers. The wages of the engineers solving these complex aerospace challenges, the cost of materials for physical prototypes, and the expenses associated with flight testing would all qualify as Qualified Research Expenses (QREs), allowing companies adapting this technology to substantially offset their innovation costs.