The American company AeroVironment presented the configuration of the Jump 20 tactical drone with two Switchblade 300 barrage ammunition — it is called the "Little Predator". As reported by FlightGlobal, developers in August tested Jump 20 together with an inactive Switchblade 300 to confirm the operability of the concept.
AeroVironment and another American company Kratos have been developing technology for several years that allows large drones to launch a variety of tactical ones. It should allow the military to conduct large-scale reconnaissance without entering the enemy-controlled zone.
Kratos has already tested the XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned slave by launching the Altius-600 reconnaissance drone. Moreover, she launched another drone from a tactical drone (a Switchblade barrage munition).
JUMP 20 is an airplane-type tactical drone capable of taking off and landing vertically. It can fly up to 185 kilometers, spend more than 14 hours in the air and carry up to 13.6 kilograms of payload. The length of the drone is 2.9 meters, the wingspan is 5.7 meters, and the weight is 97.5 kilograms.
The Switchblade 300 is also a drone, but much smaller in size than the JUMP 20. In addition, it is equipped with a grenade-sized warhead, which makes it a barrage of ammunition. Together with the Switchblade 300 warhead, it weighs about 2.5 kilograms, and can be in flight for 20 to 40 minutes. After launching, the drone spreads its wings, turns on the electric motor and starts broadcasting the video to the control panel. When launched from the ground, the range of the Switchblade 300 is 10 kilometers.
AeroVironment reported on November 29 that in August it tested a Jump 20 with an inactive Switchblade 300 to confirm the operability of the "Little Predator" — this is how the developers call the configuration of a tactical drone capable of launching two barrage ammunition. They plan that this feature will be available to Jump 20 customers in 12-18 months.
In addition, AeroVironment is going to develop a control system that allows you to simultaneously control tactical drones and barrage ammunition. The company wants the Jump 20 to simultaneously carry the Switchblade 300 and serve as a repeater.
Barrage ammunition can be launched not only by drones, but also by ground robots. Earlier we wrote about the TRX ground robot in the configuration for launching Switchblade, the layout of which was presented by General Dynamics Land Systems.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva