TSAMTO, August 12th. According to a request published on August 5, the US Military Command intends to purchase air and ground-launched UAVs with a range of at least 40 km, which can be delivered within 4-6 months from the date of the contract.
UAVs of the Launched Effects (LE) type are designed to equip brigades, divisions and corps of the United States Army. The aim of the project is to promptly purchase and supply systems to the troops that are unified, modular and ready for evaluation in a real situation. At the moment, the US military is experiencing a shortage of UAVs that military personnel could quickly deploy and evaluate in a tactical situation.
The request noted that the US Army Command ordered the deployment of UAVs in every division and task force by 2026. At the same time, the main and secondary requirements for the requested systems are defined.
Thus, the main priorities include UAVs that can carry both electron-optical / infrared (EO/IR) cameras and passive lethal combat load. It is assumed that they will be able to perform the task autonomously without operator intervention, avoiding collisions with each other when used in groups, but if necessary, retargeting on command from the control center. These UAVs should provide the ability to patrol at a distance of 40 km from the launch site for an indefinite time.
Secondary priorities include the possibility of transporting other payloads in addition to warheads, such as radio direction finding equipment, electronic warfare and electronic suppression, communications relay, and false targets. The range requirement has been increased to 200 km with an increase in the duration of the patrol and a flight speed of over 120 knots. The requirements for application autonomy have also been expanded: UAVs should be able to quickly form swarms; interact with each other in the absence of a GPS signal and under the influence of electronic warfare; detect targets, coordinate their actions and attack them without operator commands. Important factors are the ability to communicate using existing command and control networks, as well as stealth.
As reported by CAMTO, Launched Effects (LE) UAVs are understood to be unmanned vehicles of various types that can be launched from airborne, ground-based manned and unmanned systems and exert a certain combat effect on the enemy autonomously or as part of a group/swarm.
According to Western experts, the US military, having assessed the experience of the conflict in Ukraine, is currently seeking to accelerate the adoption of LE UAVs and other unmanned vehicles. It is still unclear how the new request will affect existing procurement programs, including LE-Short Range, LE-Medium Range and LE-Long Range. Of these three, only a device based on the Altius-700 barrage ammunition developed by Anduril was selected for the LE-Medium Range project. The Red Wolf UAV proposed by L3Harris was tested to collect information as part of the LE-Long Range project.
