Page 7 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 Online Magazine

in its systems since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. High demand a proof-of-concept trial in August 2021.
caused UVision to move forward the opening of a US-based pro-
duction facility in Quantico, Virginia. Measuring 2,320m , it opened The US Marine Corps is pursuing its own
2
on 6 October 2022. programme under the Organic Precision Fires -
Mounted (OPF-M) label. In mid-2021, UVision was
Incidentally, Milrem Robotics from Estonia has fitted UVision’s selected to supply the Hero-120 to the USMC.
multi-canister launchers on its Type-X and THeMIS unmanned OPF-M will see this medium-range munition
ground vehicles. This underlines future directions of “man-machine integrated onto LAV-M and JLTV vehicles, plus
battlefield collaboration”, with such combos requiring fewer troops Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vessels. These
and simplifying cooperation between units. Hero-120s will be manufactured in UVision’s new
Quantico facility.
WESTERN DEVELOPMENTS

AeroVironment in the USA makes the 2.5kg Switchblade 300, which it Developed in conjunction with AeroVironment,
claims is “the most widely adopted loitering munition in use today”. Northrop Grumman unveiled the Jackal loitering
Inducted by the US military in 2011, more than 5,000 have been munition last May. Powered by a turbojet, it has
manufactured to date; its estimated unit cost is USD57,000. a 100km range and carries a 4.5kg payload. This
choice of propulsion ensures much faster speeds
Switchblade 300s were obtained via the US Army’s Lethal Miniature to a target, at velocities up to 480km/h.
Aerial Missile System (LMAMS) programme of record, which gave NEWCOMERS
AeroVironment sole-source contracts. With a 10km range, the
Switchblade 300 has seen operational use with American units in The interesting thing about loitering munitions
Iraq and Syria. Possessing a “wave-off” capability to avoid unwanted is how even smaller countries are developing
damage, they can also be combined into six-canister multi-pack their own. For example, perhaps stung by its
launchers on vehicles. In 2020, AeroVironment released an extend- experience in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
ed-range version called the Switchblade 600, which weighs 22.7kg Armenia developed its own class of weapon in
and can take out armoured vehicles. the form of Pride Systems’ tube-launched fixed-
wing and quadcopter devices in 2021.
The US Army is also pursuing its Air-Launched Effects (ALE) pro-
gramme. Although still in its early stages, ALE will comprise Halcon, a business unit of EDGE Group in the
autonomous air vehicles launched from fixed-wing aircraft, heli- UAE, is offering the Hunter 2-S, and its first cus-
copters and UAVs to deliver either kinetic or non-kinetic effects. A tomer could be the UAE’s Presidential Guard. It
test in 2020 saw Black Hawk helicopters launching Area-I ALTIUS 600 weighs 8kg, has a 2kg warhead and range of
UAVs, and Switchblade 300s were launched from Jump 20 UAVs as 30km. It uses AI shape recognition to search for,

© Rafael
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