ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by Retd_crab

Cant wait to see the man portable system
RC

AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) : UAS Advanced Development Center: Switchblade: UAS Advanced Development Center : AeroVironment, Inc. (AV)

a good compliment for the mortar?

Originally Posted by Mattb

I may be being thick here, but surely the flight systems and guidance would be a significant cost?

Correct.





You are thick

Modern guided weapons really are only one shot, there's no requirement for anything else and to change that would require incorporating resilience into the system which adds cost.

Still think you are missing the point. After 6 hours of loitering - if a target doesn't appear - this hugely expensive thing with a live warhead has got to GO SOMEWHERE. That is - it has to be dumped into the ground where it will go bang.

Armed UAV seems a better option - that way the weapon is not released, and the local population dont end up having unwanted munitions appearing in their back gardens.

Originally Posted by chimera

Still think you are missing the point. After 6 hours of loitering - if a target doesn't appear - this hugely expensive thing with a live warhead has got to GO SOMEWHERE. That is - it has to be dumped into the ground where it will go bang.

I'm wondering if it will come under the same rules as deployed mines that have to self destruct after a period of time. It may be that the warhead SDs at the end of the loiter period.

Originally Posted by chimera

Still think you are missing the point. After 6 hours of loitering - if a target doesn't appear - this hugely expensive thing with a live warhead has got to GO SOMEWHERE. That is - it has to be dumped into the ground where it will go bang.

Armed UAV seems a better option - that way the weapon is not released, and the local population dont end up having unwanted munitions appearing in their back gardens.

Absolutely agree and said it to CRA ? DRA? Sorry being a crab a cant remember which senior gunner / organisation it was. There are two worries with this firstly if the TB are smart enough to figure out AH ROE- how long before they initiate a contact then nip off for a siesta for 6 hrs knowing that shortly after that this munition is spent. Then there is the issue of t going bang somewhere and the claims of it killed my sheep, goat, wife etc or worse still becomes part of a device that we are on the receiving end of........

Armed UAV, AH, GMLRS etc all awesome kit but loitering munitions just seem incompatible with the type of fighting that is prevalent. Hope it works though...

Originally Posted by johnnypaveway

Armed UAV, AH, GMLRS etc all awesome kit but loitering munitions just seem incompatible with the type of fighting that is prevalent. Hope it works though...

I'd have thought launching a couple of these to loiter around a grid square about to be patrolled would be pretty handy. Not exactly CAP, but handy to have on station if you suspect you'll be needing some PDQ death from above, no?

A few issues spring to mind. Firstly, and as already mentioned, there is the issue of waste when this thing has to jettison after 6 hours with no target. Secondly, given how tight things are now with engagement authorisation/PID/ROE/CDE etc I find it hard to believe that we would let some unit/sub-unit carry these things about and use them. Thirdly, loitering munitions are an airpsace management nightmare, and given that the Army would want to control them in (for want of a better expression) "their" part of it then there will be lots of other stuff (SH, AH et al) stooging about in it.

So because working in a 3D battlespace is a little hard, we should deny ourselves a capability?