Category Archives: Drones-UAV-UAS

Drone updates galore

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So it looks like the DOD (and the Coast Guard) is finally getting serious about UAVs and USVs. Lots of recent developments.

To kick it off, a recent Congressional Research Service report on the U.S. Army’s Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Programs highlights the increase in funding for the UAS, with the Army requesting $803.9 million for procurement and research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) for FY26. Compare this to just $99.9 million in FY24.

In a nod to the increase, the Army formally established the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) with a mission to enhance the DOD’s unmanned systems and affordable C-sUAS capabilities.

Further, Fort Rucker has established its first Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course.

Speaking of Rucker, during the Army’s Unmanned Aerial Systems and Launched Effects Summit, held Aug. 11-15 on the base, a paratrooper from the 173rd Airborne Brigade “achieved a milestone once unimaginable for conventional Army units: destroying an aircraft in flight using a first-person-view drone carrying an explosive charge.” In short, strapping a remote detonated claymore to a Skydio.

The service has been using small FPVs with charges in exercises in Europe in recent months.

U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade prepare to operate and detonate a live First Person View (FPV) drone at Pabradė Training Area, Lithuania, during a joint forcible entry operation as part of Swift Response 2025 (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jose Lora)

And in Poland, as part of Project Flytrap 4.0, an evolving C-UAS training event, troopers with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment “detected, tracked, engaged and defeated multiple drones at ranges between 500 and 800 meters using the Ballistic Low Altitude Drone Engagement system from a Stryker vehicle.”

BLADE has been fielded slowly since 2019, and is interesting.

Ballistic Low Altitude Drone Engagement, or BLADE, prototypes are mounted on trucks during an engineering test in June at Fort Dix, New Jersey. BLADE is integrated with an armament system to shoot down smaller unmanned aerial systems at close ranges. The test proved that the BLADE system can hit them with only a short burst of fire. (Photo by Marian Popescu, CCDC Armaments Center BLADE team)

“Some of those [drone] threats were being flown simultaneously, so the system defeated one target then quickly targeted and defeated a second target in a matter of seconds,” said David Goldstein, counter-unmanned aerial systems lead for the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

With BLADE, a precision radar and C-UAS fire control software are integrated with CROWS hardware and software to assist operators in identifying, tracking, and pointing the weapon to a continually calculated intercept point, enabling the difficult challenge of destroying enemy drones.

Capable of functioning with numerous weapons, the BLADE/CROWS combination at Project Flytrap included an M2 .50-caliber machine gun firing multiround bursts.

The Army has also initiated production of the second tranche of its short-range reconnaissance (SRR) unmanned aircraft systems, and has “selected two vendors to manufacture the SRR system, which will equip the Army’s Transformation in Contact units with advanced, networked communication systems designed to address emerging threats.”

Initial fielding of SRR tranche one began in September 2022, and, to date, the Army has fielded over 16 brigades with this capability. Critical lessons learned and soldier feedback from tranche one were incorporated into tranche two. This strategy of integrating new technologies into future tranches will continue to provide the best UAS capabilities on an accelerated schedule.

Meanwhile, with the Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard announced recently the Initial Operating Capability of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Program Executive Office (PEO), “dedicated to the rapid operationalization of the Unmanned Systems Strategic Plan.”

While the service has been sending cutters overseas with contractor-operated Scan Eagle UAVs since 2018 and has been trialing other platforms, a USCG LCDR who has been flying an MQ-9 with the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol’s Air and Maritime Operations Division out of San Antonio just earned his wings, becoming the Coast Guard’s first aviation vehicle pilot. The service plans to spend $266 million to acquire its own MQ-9 Alphas in the coming months.

And finally, DARPA’s USX-1 Defiant, the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) platform, was recently christened in Everett, Washington.

The 180-foot-long, 240-ton lightship, which “can handle operations in sea state 5 with no degradation and survive much higher seas,” is completing final systems testing in preparation for an extended at-sea demonstration of reliability and endurance.

Canada is trying, man

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While on a shoestring budget (just a tiny 1.37 percent of GDP, hovering at the bottom of NATO with Luxembourg), the Canadian Defence Forces are at least trying to field some new gear.

Besides the build-out of the (admittedly very lightly armed but at least ice capable) six-ship DeWolf-class Arctic patrol ships, a couple of new (to them) weapons platforms have broken cover.

Last month, the RCN armed and deployed a 17-foot uncrewed British Meggitt-OinetiQ Hammerhead USV-T (Unmanned Surface Vehicle, Target) with explosives during Exercise Trident Fury 2025, turning the target drone into a killer drone.

Launched from the City (Halifax)-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) and guided via satellite link, the Hammerhead successfully struck a target vessel, ironically another Hammerhead, destroying both.

With a 135-hp gas 3.0L MerCruiser Alpha 1 engine, the 1-ton Hammerhead can hit 35 knots and has enough fuel for 12-hour operations. No word on how big the charge was, but it looked dramatic. However, keep in mind that this COTS USV has been trialed in swarm operations with up to 40 vessels.

Which could be cool.

Meanwhile, in the Baltics

CAF members, operating in the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group in Latvia, have been operating Saab RBS 70 NG Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) systems during Exercise Baltic Zenith.

“From setup to missile launch and teardown, the system was put to the test and delivered the desired effect.”

Members of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group conduct a teardown of the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Members of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group conduct setup of the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Medium shot of the moment a missile is fired from the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) by the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Wide drone shot of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group firing the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Canada has been acquiring a small number of RBS-70s since 2024, specifically “to counter the assessed air threat within the Baltic region.”

The platform, originally fielded in the late 1970s, has been steadily updated and is in its at least fifth generation at this point. It has recently claimed several low-flying (under 10,000 feet ceiling) Russian aircraft (Ka-52, Mi-8, Su-24, and large UAVs) in Ukraine– so you know it works.

You would be remiss to not consider their use by the Marine Littoral Regiments in their area denial role in the Pacific.

SGT Stout gets big nod

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Originally dubbed the Interim Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense, or IM-SHORAD, system when the Army issued an initial $1.219 billion contract to Gen Dyn in September 2020 after three years of prototyping tests– the system became known officially as SGT Stout, in honor of Vietnam War ADA-unit Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Mitchell W. Stout, in June 2024.

Integrating four to eight updated Stinger short-range SAMs, a Northrop Grumman XM914 30mm chain gun, an onboard radar system, and optional Hellfire missiles onto an 8×8 Stryker A1 light armored vehicle, SGT Stout is reportedly able to provide local defense against drones and other threats on the modern battlefield, with enough mobility to support all Army formations. An M240 GPMG is also fitted coaxil.

The platform recently completed an overseas deployment and live fire exercise in Norway and was shown off for the crowds at the 250th Army birthday festival in Washington, D.C.

Stinger missiles are mounted on an SGT Stout during Formidable Shield 25, May 8, 2025, in Andøya, Norway. Formidable Shield 25 is a U.S. Sixth Fleet-led, multinational exercise focused on integrated air and missile defense. The live-fire training brings together naval, air, and ground forces from 10 NATO allies and partners. The 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is supporting the exercise with short-range air defense capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Alexander Watkins)

A SGT STOUT Manuever-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) Stryker is on display during the U.S. Army 250th Birthday Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 14, 2025. The name “SGT STOUT” honors a fallen soldier, continuing the Army tradition of memorializing heroes through vehicle dedications. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jose Rolando Garcia)

With that in mind, the below contract announcement on Monday should come as no surprise.

General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $621,058,065 modification (P00056) to contract W31P4Q-20-D-0039 for SGT Stout systems, parts, services, and support. Bids were solicited via the internet, with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 29, 2028. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

The Army originally planned to field 144 air defense systems to four battalions by fiscal year 2025, with an additional 18 systems for training, operational spares, and testing. This expansion would bring the total number of systems to over 300 vehicles, enough for as many as eight battalions.

A sobering milestone in Ukraine

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One of the biggest shifts in combat in Ukraine for the past 18 months has been tethered fiber-optic-equipped FPV drones. The cable supplies continuous power from the ground, allowing the drone can fly for hours or even days (some spools carry as much as 50km of cable); allows the transfer of real-time high-speed data, such as live video feeds via fiber optics, and, most importantly, is far more jam-resistant than previous generations of radio-controlled UAVs.

Priced as low as $1,200 and used by both sides, with upwards of 10,000 drones lost each month across the battlefront, this has left the countryside bathed in discarded fiber optic cable.

The unnatural spiderwebs of the modern battlefield.

Even the birds are using it

Ukraine now claims that they have dispatched 1 million enemy troops by their own records, a figure that can be taken with a pallet of salt.

Still, even if overestimated by 300 percent, that is a lot of empty chairs at tables in Russia.

And it is estimated that drones accounted for 70 percent of those. 

 

SSNs and yellow drone submarines, coming to an ocean near you

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Of course, they won’t be yellow when they get operational, but the Navy quietly marked a milestone in undersea warfare: the successful forward-deployed launch and recovery of the HHI Yellow Moray uncrewed underwater vehicle, a variant of the company’s REMUS 600 series UUV, from the USS Delaware (SSN 791), a Block III Virginia-class submarine. In a further note, Delaware was the first American warship commissioned while underwater, making her the ideal historical testbed for such devices.

250501-N-N0736-1001 NORFOLK (May 01, 2025) – Sailors attached to the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Delaware (SSN 791) lower a Yellow Moray (REMUS 600) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) into the water during a UUV exercise in Haakosnsvern Naval Base in Haakonsvern, Norway, and then swim it to the sub. (Courtesy Photo)

Via DOD:

The Yellow Moray UUV executed a pre-programmed mission profile showcasing the potential to greatly enhance the Navy’s subsea and seabed warfare (SSW) capabilities. The successful completion of this mission demonstrates the feasibility of deploying robotic and autonomous systems from submarines, opening new possibilities for clandestine operations and battlespace preparation. As part of this operation, Delaware executed three Yellow Moray UUV sorties of about 6-10 hours each using the same vehicle, validating the reliability of the system and the ability to execute multiple missions without the need for divers to launch and recover the vehicle.

But wait, there is more:

This deployment also highlighted the ability of the Submarine Force and UUV Group 1 to learn fast and overcome barriers. During the first attempts to launch and recover in a Norwegian Fjord in February, the vehicle failed to recover to the torpedo tube after multiple attempts. After recovering the UUV to a surface support vessel, technicians discovered damage to a critical part. To avoid impacts to the ship’s deployment schedule and operations, the Submarine Force (SUBFOR) shipped the UUV back to the U.S. and replaced the failed component. Knowing there was another opportunity to operate the system later in the deployment, SUBFOR returned the UUV to the theater where Delaware completed an expeditionary reload, and multiple successful UUV torpedo tube launch and recovery operations. As part of the expeditionary load, the team also executed a first-ever pierside diver torpedo tube load of the UUV in Norway, providing the operational commander with flexible options.

While the Yellow Moray itself doesn’t have much information, check out this backgrounder on the REMUS 620, its developmental “daddy”:

Is Pavutyna Taranto 1940?

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You have to be under a rock to have not seen the news that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) recently hit the button on an operation– dubbed “Pavutyna” (Spideweb)– some 18 months in the making.

The complex logistics involved smuggling nearly 200 FPV drones and their mobile storage hangars into Russia.

The drones, likely fiber-optic controlled (hence “Spider Web”) so as to counteract EW defenses, were hidden inside 20-foot ISO shipping containers with roofs rigged to slide open via remote control to allow their UAV cargoes to lift off toward their targets– Russian strategic aircraft, often nuclear-capable.

The trucks were staged very near bases and controlled via datalink back in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the drivers were already well on their way to exfiltrating.

Check this out for a great nuts and bolts on how the raid happened.

While one strike– on the Ukrainka air base near Seryshevo in far-off Amur oblast– failed when the truck exploded, four other strikes, using 117 drones, were more successful.

The strikes hit:

  • Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk Region of the Russian Far East, some 2,600 miles from Ukraine, damaging at least one Tu-95MS Bear and two Tu-22M3 Blackjacks. TASS reports it is the first strike into Siberia during the war.
  • Near Murmansk, the Ukrainians hit Olenya Air Base, some 1,100 miles north of their border, damaging at least 4 Tu-95s, allegedly a Tu-160 Swan, and an An-12.
  • At Ivanono Air Base, some 620 miles north of Ukraine and only 150 miles from Moscow, they hit an A-50 Mainstay (Russki AWACS).
  • Closest to home, at Dyaglievo near Ryazan, some 320 miles north of Ukraine and some 120 miles from Moscow, they hit “more than 10” aircraft.

The damage assessments and claims are all over the place. Whereas Ukraine says they damaged/destroyed 41 strategic Russian airframes, according to the OSINT project AviVector, only 13 were hit on camera.

The Russians themselves are tight-lipped as to any losses.

It was dramatic, for sure, but it took 18 months to set up, and surely benefited from Western intelligence as to targeting packages.

Did it really accomplish a lot?

Probably not on a strategic scale, other than the fact that it will now stress the Russians into sanitizing their bases, far from the front lines, for random trucks and curious buildings anywhere within a few kilometers of their flight lines, as the fiber-optic controlled battery-powered drones have a very short range. This ties down troops. Lots of them. All for the cost of some cheap drones, some converted trucks, and the risk to some drivers who were already headed home before the button was pressed.

The big thing is the precedent.

‘Taranto Harbour, Swordfish from Illustrious Cripple the Italian Fleet, 11 November 1940′ by Charles David Cobb. Painting in the collection of the National Museum

Much how the nighttime raid on the Italian port of Taranto by 21 Fleet Air Arm Fairly Swordfish on 11/12 November 1940 left three Italian battleships and a heavy cruiser damaged, but paved the way for a much more successful and much larger strike by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor 13 months later, Pavutyna could be the rough blueprint for a first strike in the next big war.

USS SHAW exploding at Pearl Harbor. NARA 80-G-16871

What if China had 2,000 such drones set to attack 50 strategic bases and communication nodes in the U.S. on D1? What if they had another 2,000 set to go after infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, dams, and the like?

Now you have a Pearl Harbor 2.0.

And in that vein, the Army just released its latest Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS)
At the same time, the five Marine Corps bases will host drone competitions to test Marine teams from across the fleet on “hunter-killer” drone employment, speed, and agility, with the first event occurring at Quantico, Virginia, in November.

The Port of Gulfport implemented ‘continuous autonomous subsea surveillance’ on May 1

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There is no secret that the Navy has often used undersea surveillance sonar such as the German-made Cerberus anti-diver set for years in sensitive areas such as strategic ports, NSYs, and homeports.

For instance, more than 20 years ago:

050815-N-1722M-026 Pascagoula, Miss. (Aug 15, 2005) – Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit One Two (EODMU-12) Det 10 prepare to guide the Cerberus Swimmer Detection System into the water at Naval Station Pascagoula during the Gulf Coast Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative 2005. The initiative is being held at the Port of Pascagoula in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, along with federal, state, and local agencies working together to enhance homeland security. U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Michael Moriatis (RELEASED)

Plus, there are regular harbor inspections and exercises by USCGR PSUs and USNR MIUWUs, not to mention state and local dive teams and UXO/EOD dets.

Now the ante has been quietly upped in the form of full-time AUSVs.

I’ve covered the Ocean Aero Triton, which is capable of sailing autonomously for 3 months on solar and wind power at speeds of up to 5 knots, several times in the past couple of years. I see them a lot as the company is based here in Gulfport.

Up she comes.

It seems the Triton is now also “on the job” in the port, basically making a baseline scan of the bottom and then repeating the grid to look for new items which would be interesting to take a closer look at to see if they are, well, an old refrigerator, or a sea mine.

 

Navy Ramjet progress, via Firebee

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The Ryan Model 124, today best known as the BQM-34A Firebee, has been around since the 1950s and has been the most common American jet-powered gunnery target for the past 75 years or so. In short, it has been shot at by just about every weapon in the NATO arsenal.

The humble Firebee has also been used offensively from time to time, used in Vietnam as “SAM sniffer” and in photo recon and psyops roles, and in the 2003 invasion of Iraq to lay chaff corridors for SEAD strikes while the BGM-34 offshoot was tested to drop Shrike and Maverick missiles in remote strike missions.

So it should come as no surprise that a BQM-34 was used this week by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division to air-launch a Solid Fuel Integral Rocket Ramjet (SFIRR) for the first time.

A BQM-34 unmanned aerial vehicle launches from Point Mugu during a test of the Navy’s Solid Fuel Integral Rocket Ramjet (SFIRR) demonstrator, developed by Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. The test marked the first air launch of SFIRR from an unmanned platform. (U.S. Navy photo)

A BQM-34 unmanned aerial vehicle launches from Point Mugu during a test of the Navy’s Solid Fuel Integral Rocket Ramjet (SFIRR) demonstrator, developed by Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. The test marked the first air launch of SFIRR from an unmanned platform. (U.S. Navy photo)

A BQM-34 unmanned aerial target, which is remotely piloted during flight, releases a test missile over the Point Mugu Sea Range. The test advanced a missile design aimed at improving range and targeting for future Navy missions. (U.S. Navy photo)

As detailed by NAWCWD:

The test also integrated the use of a fire control system on a BQM-34 unmanned target vehicle for live firing, demonstrating advancements in high-speed, long-range weapon capabilities. Launching the missile from an unmanned vehicle can allow warfighters to safely engage targets from greater distances.

As the Lead Prototype Integrator, NAWCWD combined advanced propulsion, avionics, and fire control technologies into the technology demonstrator in just 12 months. Rapidly transitioning technologies from research to operational use is critical for maintaining a warfighting advantage.

“This successful integration validates key aspects of our design and moves us closer to delivering an advanced propulsion system that will provide warfighters with greater range and speed,” said Abbey Horning, product director of NAWCWD’s Advanced Concepts, Prototyping and Experimentation office.

Drones Give and Take in Unusual Ways These Days

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A few interesting stories that help add color to what warfare is in 2025.

In Poland, Soldiers of the 15th Giżycko “Zawiszy Czarnego” Mechanized Brigade have been “testing new technologies for MEDEVAC procedures, notification systems, and modern teleinformation tools for planning and managing medical evacuations during both operations and emergencies.”

This includes using a large quadcopter UAV with a Stokes litter slung underneath for casevac.

Looks fun unless you are in the litter…

The Poles, who are continually keeping active tabs on what is going on in Ukraine, are all in on drones moving forward.

Drone troops are the future of the Polish army, the future of all types of armed forces. They will have hundreds of thousands of drones: flying, ground, surface, and underwater – said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz on Wednesday during the annual task and settlement briefing of the management of the Ministry of National Defence and the command staff of the Polish Army.

Now, flash to the Sinai along the Israeli-Egyptian border, where the IDF recently intercepted and captured a UAV entering Israeli airspace. After downing the drone (which still looks intact, so it was probably via a soft kill ECM device) 10 M-16 style rifles and ammunition were recovered, no doubt being smuggled to Palestinian militant groups.

The rifles appear to be ChiCom Norinco CQs, which have been widely used and are available for sale in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Libya. The Iranians even make a variant of the CQ domestically (as the Sayyad 5.56) for the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

And from the wastes of the Mojave Desert, where the 11th “Blackhorse” Armored Cavalry Regiment has been routinely beating the tracks off folks as the OPFOR at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin for the past 30 years, drones are well in hand to shake things up.

According to the Blackhorse’s social media team, they have been integrating FPV drones of the type often seen in use as simple munitions droppers and unmanned kamikazes in Ukraine and Syria, drone-deployed minefields, and their own legacy systems to lay waste to visiting units and making it look easy.

Price check, UAV

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Ever wondered what medium-sized Group 3 UAVs run these days?

How about this contract announcement this week from DOD, emphasis mine.

Keep in mind the figure includes support and all the accouterment.

Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington, is awarded a $102,353,293 modification (P00007) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001922D0038). This modification increases the contract ceiling to procure 21 RQ-21A Blackjack air vehicles and 47 ScanEagle air vehicles, as well as associated payloads, turrets, support equipment, spares, tools, and training for both Unmanned Aircraft Systems in support of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for the Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and other international business partnership capacity efforts. Work will be performed in Bingen, Washington (88%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (12%), and is expected to be completed in June 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

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