Army development shop testing launcher for small drones, eyes pathway for mass production

Out at the Project Convergence Capstone 5 event this month, the service fired several launched effects from the ground. (Ashley Roque/Breaking Defense)

GLOBAL FORCE 2024 — On the US Army’s quest to fire the new category of launched effects from ground robots and aircraft, a development shop is working on a universal launcher and eyeing an off-ramp for having industry mass produce it, according to two Army officials.

“We’ve completed the design and [are] testing of the sub elements,” one official with the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command told Breaking Defense earlier this month at the Project Convergence Capstone 5 event. “We’re going to go into … integrated testing in about a month and that will lead into air and ground demonstrations this summer.”

Launched effects are essentially a small drone that shoots out of something else mid-flight to collect information or strike targets. The service envisions an arsenal with at least three different ranges — short, medium and long — and has moved forward with the first two categories.

In the meantime, DEVCOM has also been working on a launcher for those short- and medium-range weapons. The goal, the two officials said, is to produce a universal launcher the service can integrate onto aircraft and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), as well as manned and unmanned ground vehicles.

Last year the development shop fired the launcher from a trailer, a Humvee and a Polaris Dagor vehicle, and the duo said that they also envision the launcher being integrated onto unmanned platforms like a Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) robotic mule.

“We are working on having a remote lock capability for the ground launcher and our goal is to work with GVSC [Ground Vehicle Systems Center] on their ground robot,” the second official said.

The tentative plan is to prove out launcher development and create a technical data package that the service owns. At that point, an acquisition shop can host a competition for vendors interested in producing it.

“The beauty of that is they can mass produce it but also give specifications about the [launched effects] going inside,” the second official added.