Page 6 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 Online Magazine

weapons too. The USA has supplied hundreds of
Switchblade 300s and 600s, as well as Phoenix © UVision
Ghost platforms, with their first recorded use
being last May. Loitering munitions are also
common in ongoing Libyan, Syrian and Yemeni
conflicts.
ADVANTAGES

Loitering munitions are essentially UAVs armed
with an explosive warhead. Others like to think
of them is as “loitering missiles”. As such, they
can be used against targets farther away than
what is achievable by conventional direct-fire
weapons. Furthermore, they are far more accu-
rate than indirect-fire weapons like mortars or
howitzers, thus reducing collateral damage.
Perhaps their chief advantage is that they give
operators maximum freedom on whether or not, ISRAEL
to detonate them in congested battlefields.
Furthermore, a loitering munition’s video camera Israel was one birthplace for loitering munitions – specifically via the
can provide valuable situational awareness to Harop that was developed to hit time-sensitive targets like mobile
operators. surface-to-air missile batteries – and the nation continues to be a
leader in the field. Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) latest incarnation
Loitering munitions are becoming a game- of its original creation is the anti-radiation Harpy-NG that has a
changer for tactical units, so much so that some 16kg warhead and nine-hour endurance.
units in Ukraine are even jury-rigging commer-
cial UAVs with hand grenades to give them a IAI also manufactures the Mini Harpy with dual electro-optic/infrared
and anti-radiation seekers, plus the smaller 15kg Green Dragon/
homemade loitering munition capability. If units Mini Harop. Even smaller is the 6kg Rotem quadrotor, a recoverable
have their own loitering munitions, they do not UAV. Demand is undiminished, with IAI announcing in February 2021
have to rely on army/air force aircraft to take that it had won three contracts worth more than USD100 million.
out enemy positions or equipment. One was for an Asian navy for Harop maritime systems. In January,

IAI unveiled its Point Blank, described as a “hand-launched elec-
Loitering munitions, because they are expend- tro-optical guided missile” for use by small tactical teams. After
able, must be significantly cheaper to procure development, IAI will deliver prototype Point Blank ROC-X variants
than equivalent surveillance or armed UAVs. to the US military in FY2023.
Typically, canister-launched without need of
a runway, most loitering munitions cannot be Another Israeli company manufacturing loitering munitions is Elbit
recovered. If they were recoverable, they would Systems. Hundreds of its fixed-wing SkyStrikers, with 10kg warheads
need to devote up to half their payload space that are exchangeable in the field, have been delivered worldwide. It
to undercarriages or similar recovery systems, possesses a 40km range and endurance of two hours. Aeronautics is
and this would correspondingly reduce warhead another Israeli player, which unveiled its Orbital 1K in 2015. Elsewhere,
sizes. Remember too that these are live muni- SpearUAV offers its encapsulated Viper, a wearable micro-loitering
tions, so innumerable safety regulations come munition. The maker is planning a demonstration of its capabilities
into play if they are supposed to return home. to a potential customer by midyear.

With the proliferation of loitering munitions, Rafael offers the 400mm-long Spike FireFly with 350g fragmentation
a new era of “dronekrieg” warfare is upon us, warhead. Featuring a dual seeker and target tracker, this 3kg VTOL
with this weapon class operating similarly to weapon operated by a single soldier is ideal for urban combat.
dive-bombers of WWII. Using terrain to mask Operated by Israel’s military as the Maoz, it is one of the few loitering
their low-altitude approach to enemy armour munitions designed to be recoverable.
and carrying top-attack shaped charges and
white phosphorous to blind vehicle sensors and One of the most extensive families of combat-proven munitions
crews, swarms of such weapons could decimate comes from UVision. The family encompasses the Hero-20, Hero-30,
enemy armoured formations. Is it possible that, Hero-70, Hero-120, Hero-250, Hero-400, Hero-400EC, Hero-900
one day, they might even prove more dangerous and Hero-1250 (numbers refer to the warhead’s weight in grams
than antitank missiles? multiplied by ten). The company is continually refining the family in
terms of lethality, precision and immunity to electronic warfare mea-
sures. The company reported “significant global growth of interest”
6 | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/ADT