Unmanned Warfare

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have added a batch of new ‘loitering torpedoes’ developed by Iran’s defense industries. The new weapons were unveiled yesterday during a ceremony at Bandar Abas naval base, a large naval base located at the straits of Hormoz. The new weapon that seems to be a hybrid of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) and a guided torpedo, enables the guards to direct covert attacks at enemy naval bases, ships, and offshore facilities.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), introduced today an 'Autonomous Collaborative Platform' (ACP) called Gambit. “Gambit will usher in a new era, where UAS work collaboratively with manned aircraft to detect, identify and target adversaries at range and scale across the battlespace.” GA-ASI President David R. Alexander said.

Israel’s C-UAS expert Skylock has unveiled at the UMEX exhibition in Dubai this week a new rocket-shaped hard-kill drone inhibitor countermeasure called Sky Interceptor, that can disable hostile drones at a range of 1,100 m’. A booster-extended range version can reach up to 3 km.

Elbit Systems unveiled today a new version of its SkylarkTM 3 Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (STUAS) equipped with a hybrid propulsion system. According to the company, the use of a battery-powered electric engine with an internal combustion engine triples the endurance and offers up to 18 hours of operations.

Rheinmetall Defense has introduced another variant of its Skyranger air defense weapon system, the Skyranger 30 HEL - a mobile, hybrid solution mounting the company's 30mm AHEAD with a laser onboard. As a hybrid solution, the Skyranger 30 HEL is designed to thwart the full range of current and future airborne threats. The interplay of a 30mm automatic cannon, guided missiles, and a high-energy laser (HEL) results in a mix of effectors unique in this combination. The Skyranger HEL was presented in public for the first time at a counter-drone event held last year by the Swiss procurement agency armasuisse in Bure, Switzerland.

Today, the Middle East's International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022 began. It is the region’s largest maritime exercise and the world's largest unmanned exercise with more than 80 unmanned systems from ten nations participating.

General Atomics has recently conducted a flight demonstration of two Avenger unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), each equipped with Lockheed Martin’s Legion Pod IRST21, an Infra-Red Search & Track pod designed to detect aerial targets at long range, without using radar.

Fire control systems expert SMART SHOOTER, introduced today the SMASH Dragon application for armed drones. The new system employs an advanced remotely controlled robotic weapon payload that fits on different drones or other unmanned aerial platforms. The system successfully completed live firing tests and is currently under advanced stages of development.

HevenDrones, an Israeli developer of heavy drones announced an alliance with US-based Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), for the development and commercialization of hydrogen fuel-cell-powered heavy-lift drones and related support equipment and infrastructure required for their operation. Together, the companies plan to provide an integrated solution to power and refuel HevenDrones’ next-generation fleet with the key objective of providing extended flight times and range.

Unlike the larger and heavier drones that operate like manned aircraft and are bound to airfields or other complex launch and retrieval systems, small UAS are optimized to work and support operators at the tactical level. Aeronautics' Orbiter family of Mini UAS (MUAS) and Small Tactical UAS (STUAS) is designed specifically for those missions.

During the recent 'Guardian of the Walls' operations in Gaza, Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) employed swarms of unmanned systems to strike inside the enemy area to seek and destroy hidden targets. This was the combat debut of a new capability developed by the IDF that demonstrated the great value of manned-unmanned operations at the tactical edge.

Plasan's Stinger light combat vehicle is a 6.8-ton vehicle based on a standard HMMWV chassis, configured with a highly protected capsule meeting STANAG 4560 Vol1 Level 4, a protection level rarely accommodated by vehicles at this weight class. The 4x4 vehicle is designed for extreme maneuverability off-road and on the road, including narrow streets in urban areas.

To achieve Terrain Dominance through technology overmatch, IMCO Industries combines platforms, sensors, and effectors developed in-house by its subsidiaries, affiliates, and partners. These systems are offered as upgrades of existing systems and equipping new platforms, to embrace the opportunities and challenges of the 21st-century battlespace.

India's leading aerospace manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unveiled today the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) at the Aero India airshow in Bengaluru. CATS aligned with similar teaming concepts underway in the USA and Europe, integrating manned and unmanned aerial platforms in cohesive, dynamic future air combat.