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Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Futuristic Grenade Launcher From Colt And Northrop Grumman Seen Being Fired For First Time
Northrop Grumman has released a brief video clip showing an individual shooting a new 25mm precision grenade launcher it has been working on together with gunmaker Colt. This appears to be the first time we've seen a working prototype of the weapon being fired. It is one of several designs being pitched to meet U.S. Army requirements for a highly computerized Precision Grenadier System (PGS) that soldiers could use to engage ground targets, including ones behind cover, as well as help shield themselves from the growing threats posed by drones. The footage of the grenade launcher being tested was included in a video montage, seen in the social media post below, that Northrop Grumman put out earlier this week to highlight 'the latest in Bushmaster Chain Gun technology, advanced ammunition and counter-uas [uncrewed aerial systems] solutions.' Inspired by innovation, perfected with with our teammates, we recently demonstrated the latest in Bushmaster® Chain Gun® technology, advanced ammunition and counter-uas live-fire scenarios highlighted the depth of our innovations – reliable,… — Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) May 13, 2025 In general, the new grenade launcher has the look of an oversized rifle. It is semi-automatic and feeds from a five-round box magazine. The barrel is between 14 and 15 inches long, and the overall weight is under 15 pounds, Colt has previously told Defense News. In the recently released video clip from Northrop Grumman, the gun is seen fitted with a Vortex Optics XM157 computerized optic, which the U.S. Army is already acquiring to go along with its new 6.8x51mm XM7 rifles and XM250 light machine guns. In April, at the Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, D.C., Northrop Grumman representatives told TWZ's Howard Altman that the company has been focused primarily on developing a family of specialized ammunition to go along with the launcher. Colt has been leading the development of the weapon itself, a mockup of which was shown at the event. 'We're responsible for integration. We went to Colt to help design this [the grenade launcher],' Michael O'Hara, Senior Manager for Tactical Weapons Solutions & Strategy at Northrop Grumman, explained. 'These specialized rounds is [sic; are] all Northrop Grumman, and then we're working with different types of smart optics.' The mockup of the grenade launcher at Modern Day Marine was equipped with a SMASH-series computerized optic from Israeli firm Smartshooter. SMASH-series optics have been steadily gaining traction across the U.S. military and elsewhere globally in recent years, with a particular eye toward improving the ability of individual shooters to engage small drones. O'Hara also specifically mentioned Vortex Optics as another source of 'smart optics.' 'The program is focused primarily, currently, at surface-to-surface [targets]. So we're able to take out targets down-range that are hidden behind objects. That's the whole purpose of the weapon system,' O'Hara added. 'We are also taking that functionality and taking the prox[imity] capability of the ammo and going to go against UAS. So, for like squad-level/platoon-level protection, a rifleman would be able to utilize this [to] engage UAS, small UASs, for protection.' The U.S. Army has said its plan for the future Precision Grenadier System (PGS) envisions 'a Soldier portable, shoulder fired, semi-automatic, magazine fed, integrated armament system (weapon, ammunition, fire control) that enables rapid, precision engagements to destroy personnel targets in defilade and in the open with increased lethality and precision compared to legacy grenade launchers, while also not impacting Soldier mobility,' according to a contracting notice the service put out in February. 'The PGS is anticipated to be deployed as a Soldier's primary weapon system, providing organic, close-quarters combat, counter-defilade, and counter-UAS capabilities through a family of ammunition to ranges in concert with the rest of the squad's battlespace, and requiring minimal resupplies to support. This capability shall provide overmatch to comparable threat grenade launchers in near-peer formations in future operating environments to include urban, jungle, woodland, subterranean, and desert, in day, night, or obscured conditions.' Previous PGS contracting notices have also called for a weapon with an overall length of no more than 34 inches, a weight of 14.5 pounds or less, and an effective range of at least 1,640 feet (500 meters). The PGS also needs to be able to fire rounds along a relatively flat trajectory, with the goal of making it easier to engage targets accurately. The desired maximum range for the PGS is notably greater than that offered by the M203 and M320 grenade launchers currently in Army service, which also fire 40x46mm rounds along a more arced trajectory. Unlike the PGS, the M230 and M320 are both designed to be attached under the barrels of existing standard infantry rifles, though the Army also fields the latter in a stand-alone configuration. The Army wants a family of specialized ammunition to go along with the PGS that includes a so-called 'Counter Defilade Round' that can 'precisely and quickly defeat personnel targets' behind cover, which would be an air-bursting design. As Northrop Grumman's O'Hara noted, with the help of a proximity fuze, rounds designed for counter-defilade use could also be employed against drones. Armor-piercing, shotgun-like 'close quarters battle' anti-personnel canister, and training rounds are expected to go along with the PGS, as well. It is important to remember that the Army's current PGS effort follows the cancellation of work on a similarly advanced 25mm grenade launcher, designated the XM25 and nicknamed 'The Punisher,' back in 2018. Work on the XM25 began in the mid-2000s as an outgrowth of an abortive next-generation infantry weapons program called the Objective Infantry Combat Weapon (OICW) that started in the 1990s. Given the stated PGS weight requirement, it is interesting to note that the XM25's 14-pound weight was cited as contributing to its ultimate cancellation. The cost of the grenade launcher and its advanced programmable ammunition, as well as its physical bulk, were also factors. At least two other grenade launchers are being pitched to the Army now for PGS. These are the Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS) from Barrett Firearms and MARS, Inc., and FN America's PGS-001. The SSRS and the PGS-001 could have an additional leg up thanks to being the two finalists in the Army's xTechSoldier Lethality challenge that wrapped up in 2023. You can read more about what is known about those designs here. AUSA 23 – FN USA's PGS-001 Precision Grenadier System — Soldier Systems (@soldiersystems) October 10, 2023 What the Army's timeline now for settling on a PGS design and fielding it is unclear. The aforementioned contracting notice put in February was tied to PGS, but was specifically about a Prototype Project Opportunity described as 'a risk reduction effort separate from the Precision Grenadier Program of Record with the goal of developing technologies associated with the current capability gap.' The Army clearly still has an active interest in the capabilities that PGS could offer, now further spurred on by the ever-growing threats that drones present. Though the danger posed by drones is not new, it has been very pointedly observed in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as well as other hotspots around the world in recent years. The recently released video shows that Northrop Grumman and Colt are continuing in their development of one grenade launcher design that could meet the Army's PGS needs. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Navy Special Ops Speedboats Getting Retractable Multiple Drone Launch Systems
Test launches of Anduril's ALTIUS-700 loitering munitions from one of the U.S. Navy's stealthy Combatant Craft Medium (CCM) boats are helping pave the way for a future maritime special operations strike capability. A key requirement for the planned successor to the CCM, or CCM Mk 2, is the integration of a launcher that could fire ALTIUS-700s and other precision munitions. Members of U.S. Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) Program Executive Office-Maritime (PEO-M) provided updates on work toward the new loitering munition capability and other special operations combatant craft modernization efforts at the annual SOF Week conference this week, at which TWZ has been in attendance. The loitering munition effort, which dates back to at least 2018, has been formally known as the Maritime Precision Engagement (MPE) program, but SOCOM says the name is now shifting to Maritime Launched Effects (MLE). A stock picture of one of the US Navy's Combatant Craft Medium (CCM) special operations boats. USN David Vann, a naval systems engineer at the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) who works with the division of SOCOM's PEO-M that deals with the combatant craft fleets, was one of the individuals who shared new details regarding the MPE/MLE program at SOF Week. He confirmed today that the ALTIUS-700 is the munition that has been and continues to be used in live-fire testing of the prototype system, with another test launch scheduled to occur this month, in response to direct questions from TWZ Howard Altman. The ALTIUS-700 is a larger and longer-ranged derivative of the increasingly popular ALTIUS-600 drone, originally developed by Area-I, which Anduril acquired in 2021. The ALTIUS-700 is a modular design that could be configured with additional sensors or other payloads, including electronic warfare and signal relay packages. When configured as a loitering munition, it carries a warhead that offers anti-armor and anti-structure capability, as you can read more about here. PEO-M also offered new views of a prototype eight-cell MPE/MLE launcher, which has been installed on an existing CCM, including one showing an actual test launch, as seen at the top of this story and below. Details about the launcher remain limited, but it retracts flush into a space on the CCM's bow. This make senses for maintaining the boat's overall stealth characteristics when the launcher is not in use. Images of the prototype MPE/MLE launcher. SOCOM via Howard Altman Though ALTIUS-700 has been used for MPE testing to date, it is just one munition that could be integrated into the launcher. 'It could be,' Vann said when asked if UVision's Hero-120 loitering munition might be another option. The U.S. special operations community and the U.S. Marine Corps are already acquiring variants of the Hero-120, including for employment from maritime platforms. A US Marine Corps Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV) with an eight-cell launcher for Hero-120 loitering munitions. USMC SOCOM has also shown UVision's smaller and shorter-ranged Hero-30, as well as Rafael's Spike NLOS (Non-Line Of Sight) missile, as notional options that might meet its MPE/MLE requirements in the past. The U.S. Army has notably fielded the Spike NLOS integrated onto its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. A 2018 briefing slide discussing the MPE program, which includes images of a Spike NLOS missile and a Hero-30 loitering munition. SOCOM 'We're not limiting ourselves to any single item,' Vann said. In terms of the present schedule for the MPE/MLE program, SOCOM now expects the system to enter service as a core element of the CCM Mk 2 boats, the requirements for which are still being finalized. The current goal is to begin fielding the CCM Mk 2s by Fiscal Year 2030. 'It's sort of shocking to some people that none of my combatant crafts are inherently built with an offensive or defensive capability in whole,' Navy Capt. Jared Wyrick, head of PEO-M, said during a talk at the SOF Week conference yesterday. 'And I'm always a big fan of saying, if you can make a product more quickly, things will want to stay further and further away from you.' 'When we specifically are looking at the CCM Mk 2 that we're working on the design of right now, and hoping to put out more information [on] later this year, part of that design was built around what is the fleet of … unmanned aerial systems look like now, so that we were able to accommodate that, and thinking about what's the next generation to look like,' Capt. Wyrick added during a deep-dive session on his office's portfolio at SOF Week today. It is worth noting here that existing CCMs, as well as smaller Combatant Craft Assault (CCA) special operations boats, can currently be armed with crew-served weapons like the .50 caliber M2 machine gun and 40mm Mk 19 Mod 3 automatic grenade launcher. What mounted armament options might presently be available for the larger and more secretive Combatant Craft Heavy (CCH) boats is unknown. Before they were retired in 2013, the Navy's Mk V Special Operations Craft also offered naval special operators a boat with an integrated ability to launch and recover Scan Eagle drones. A CCM armed with a pair of .50 caliber M2 machine guns. USN A loitering munition in the general class of the ALTIUS-700, which has a stated maximum range of 100 miles, as well as the ability to stay aloft for up to 75 minutes, will offer CCM Mk 2 crews an all-new way to prosecute targets at sea or on land at standoff ranges. Loitering munitions also have secondary surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that could be valuable to these kinds of operations, well. As TWZ has pointed out in past reporting on the MPE/MLE effort, armed with this capability, the Navy special operations speedboats could be used in a variety of scenarios, including engaging high-value and/or time-sensitive targets close to a coastline or at sea. Non-line of sight fire support, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities could also just particularly useful for supporting special operations raids ashore or boarding operations at sea. A networked swarm of loitering munitions and other drones with different payloads could offer additional flexibility when it comes to finding targets and employing non-kinetic effects, as well as launching kinetic attacks, across a broad area. Control of loitering munitions could also be passed off to other friendly forces in the air, at sea, and on land, including other drones configured as signal relays, to help reach further-flung target areas. This is a concept of operations that has been explicitly highlighted in relation to the MPE/MLE program. A graphic included in a PEO-M presentation at this year's SOF Week conference that shows the prototype MPE/MLE launcher, at left, as well as a depiction of how control of a loitering munition launched from a combatant craft could be passed to forces ashore. SOCOM via Howard Altman 'One of our combatant crafts is not going to stop next war. It's not going to be the one on the line saying, 'don't step off.' That's going to be done by a lot of our capital asset platforms [like] carriers [and] submarines,' Capt. Wyrick said at SOF week yesterday. 'Naval Special Warfare [NSW] has the opportunity to increase their lethality and survivability when that war is going to start, and make it visible that they will have that edge when the war is going to start by the efforts that NSW is going to provide.' CCM Mk 2s with launchers loaded with ALTIUS-700s or other precision munitions are now set to be another way Navy special operations forces will be able to add that lethality in the future. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can The OA-1K Skryraider II Actually Be Useful In A Pacific Fight?
Questions about the future of the U.S. Air Force's new OA-1K Skyraider II continue to swirl amid an ongoing shift toward preparing for potential peer conflicts and away from counter-insurgency and other low-intensity operations for which the special operations light attack aircraft was originally envisioned. Whether or not the program could be axed as part of a Pentagon-wide realignment of priorities under President Donald Trump is now also a topic of great interest. A high-ranking Air Force official recently talked at length about the OA-1K, including what roles it could play in a future high-end fight in the Pacific, with TWZ's Howard Altman, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss planning issues. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) took delivery of the first Skyraider II in April and expects to eventually receive 75 of the aircraft in total. The two-seat, single-engine turboprop's official nickname, which is a callback to the famed A-1 Skyraider that U.S. forces flew during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, was announced in February. 'The way that the OA-1K will look on day one is not how probably the OA-1K will look on day 1,000,' the Air Force official said. 'As we field it, it will continue to iterate based on the requirements that our supported forces articulate to us. We're intimately involved with all of those forces, even as we speak, on shaping the initial and then also the growing requirements that I'm sure that we will find for that platform going forward.' The OA-1K 'was designed to be very flexible. A big element of the platform is, again, this notion of modularity, [and] open systems architecture,' they continued. 'What that does for us is, on a given mission, you might put certain types of capabilities [on the aircraft] – those could be ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] capabilities, … strike capabilities – you may have more of one than the other, depending on the day or the mission requirement of the supported force. But then the next day, that may change, and you can rapidly swap out what the capabilities are of the platform on a given mission.' The original core vision for the OA-1K was an aircraft capable of performing close air support, armed overwatch, and ISR missions, primarily in support of special operations forces, and while operating in permissive airspace. SOCOM's Armed Overwatch program, which resulted in the Skyraider II, kicked off in 2020, but leveraged many years of other abortive light attack aircraft programs and related test and evaluation efforts that had been heavily driven by the demands of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) era. Another key goal for the Armed Overwatch program was to help free up tactical combat jets, bombers, and other aircraft that had been employed in these roles in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for more demanding and/or higher-priority missions, as well as reduce costly wear and tear on those platforms from constant and of short-endurance sorties. A light attack aircraft like the OA-1K would also have the benefit of being able to be pushed forward with a minimal logistics footprint to far-flung locations, even ones with next to no infrastructure. This, in turn, would put them closer to operating areas, reducing travel time and increasing on-station availability, all without the need for already heavily in-demand tanker support. However, the SOCOM selected the OA-1K as the winner of the Armed Overwatch competition in 2022, by which time the U.S. military had withdrawn from Afghanistan and the larger pivot to preparing for high-end operations, with a particular eye toward the Pacific, was in full swing. U.S. forces expect to face increasingly far more capable and longer-ranged air defenses in any large-scale conflict, especially in the region against China. The Air Force has explicitly warned about the potential threat of anti-air missiles able to reach targets up to 1,000 miles away emerging in the coming decades. This, in turn, has already called into question the relevance of the Skyraider II, as well as other special operations aircraft more tailored toward lower-end contingencies. So 'how could we support them [friendly forces] if it's in the Pacific or anywhere else? The OA-1K certainly has some roles and missions that can [provide] support there. And then in a large-scale combat operation, we are looking at, in partnership with other components of SOCOM [U.S. Special Operations Command], what are some of the things that it could do,' they added. 'Can it employ air-launched effects, at range, at standoff, in a flexible way that would provide value?' 'Launched effect' is a catch-all that the U.S. military uses to refer broadly to uncrewed aerial systems that can be launched from air, ground, and maritime platforms, and be configured as one-way attackers or to perform other non-kinetic missions, including electronic warfare, ISR, and signal relay. The term reflects increasingly blurry lines between multiple categories of aerial systems, especially traditional cruise missiles and long-range kamikaze drones. The Air Force official that TWZ spoke to did not elaborate on what kinds of 'launched effects' the OA-1K might carry in the future, but there is a growing array of relevant designs already in various stages of development within the U.S. military, as well as by private industry. SOCOM also has a Small Cruise Missile (SCM) program, primarily intended to provide new standoff strike capability for the AC-130J Ghostrider gunship, but that could be applicable to other platforms like the Skyraider II. The AC-130J is another AFSOC platform facing questions about its relevance in future high-end fights. In 2023, L3Harris, the prime contractor for the Skyraider II, also said it had modeled potential loadouts for the aircraft that included AGM-84 Harpoons and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Ranges (JASSM-ER), according to National Defense Magazine. The AGM-84 and AGM-158B are traditional air-launched anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles, respectively. L3Harris had also done that modeling work independently of its contracts with SOCOM. The aforementioned SCM program and others like it within the U.S. military are also heavily focused on offering lower-cost alternatives to munitions like the Harpoon and JASSM-ER. L3Harris has put forward GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) and GBU-53/B StormBreakers, also known as Small Diameter Bomb IIs (SDB II), as potential future armament options for the OA-1K. The GBU-39/B and GBU-53/B both offer a degree of standoff capability, and the ability to engage static and moving targets over dozens of miles. Otherwise, the prospective loadouts that have been put forward for the OA-1K to date align with the original lower-intensity mission focus and center on a mix of non-standoff precision munitions. These include AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) laser-guided 70mm rockets, and 500-pound GBU-12 laser-guided bombs. Pods to allow the Skyraider II to launch stores from Common Launch Tubes (CLT), which could include precision-guided missiles and bombs, as well as air-launched drones, have been put forward, as well. The OA-1K will also be able to carry podded sensor systems. For the Skyraider II, launched effects with standoff range could open up additional possibilities when it comes to operational employment of the aircraft. 'The next point that I would make there is that's where we start to get into things like Adaptive Airborne Enterprise. We get into enhanced precision effects,' the Air Force official we talked to said in response to a question regarding the future of the AC-130J that they also said was relevant to the OA-1K. 'So this is where we start talking about our platforms. And we are putting capabilities on them that now make them more flexible and enable them to provide support to the joint force and SOF [special operations forces] … in a number of environments.' Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) is an overarching term for concepts of operations that AFSOC has been refining for some years now that focus on increasing deployability by reducing personnel and logistics footprints, as well as the collaborative employment of capabilities. A2E work so far has focused heavily on the MQ-9 Reaper drone, but the Air Force has made clear in the past that the concept extends to other aerial platforms, crewed and uncrewed, as well as friendly ground and maritime forces. Another key element of A2E has been exploring how capabilities can be employed across areas of increasing risk, as highlighted in the graphic below. This is particularly relevant for a platform like the OA-1K, which could deploy launched effects from permissive airspace, but to support operations in adjacent higher-risk areas. Skyraider IIs could potentially be pushed to forward operating locations where they could conduct similar operations from within the bubble of friendly defenses. Similar concepts of operations have been put forward by the U.S. Army and other branches of the U.S. military in recent years with a particular eye toward ensuring the relevance of less survivable platforms in higher-end conflicts. The OA-1K's deployability and small operational footprint could help make it difficult for enemy forces to target, in general. The aircraft might also be useful for providing more localized force protection and surveillance around forward operating locations like island outposts, which could include counter-drone patrols. In particular, the APKWS II rockets that are expected to be in the Skyraider II's arsenal are already proving themselves to be valuable air-to-air weapons against drones, and their capabilities in this regard are set to expand further. U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75" Rockets.#HouthisAreTerrorists — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 19, 2025 The high-ranking Air Force official also stressed to TWZ that SOCOM and AFSOC still expect to be tasked with the kinds of lower-intensity missions and crisis response scenarios in environments with more permissive airspace that led to the acquisition of the OA-1K in the first place. 'We still have this requirement on the SOCOM side of the house to do counter-terrorism, crisis response, counter-VEO ['violent extremist organization missions]. And really, that was the notion of the OA-1K originally, [it] was a cost-effective platform in the counter-violent extremism environment,' they said. 'So that still is a relevant mission set.' They also highlighted how continuing to engage with allies and partners in the Pacific region on lower-intensity fights where the OA-1K is relevant remains an important way of building military-to-military relationships that could extend into a future major conflict. 'Now you start to think about competition and building relationships with allies and partners. And there's all the lead-up to something someday, where there's just this notion of strengthening relationships,' they explained. 'How do you train with partner nations? Many of them still have their own counter-VEO concerns, they also have their own counter-terrorism/crisis response concerns. How could we support them if it's in the Pacific or anywhere else?' The Air Force has also raised the possibility of utilizing OA-1K's closer to home, including in support of border security missions. Since January, President Donald Trump's administration has significantly expanded U.S. military support to civilian law enforcement agencies along the southern border with Mexico, as well as surrounding bodies of water. The Skyraider II would offer a lower-cost alternative to the MQ-9 Reapers that have been supporting those operations, as well as augment higher-end ISR platforms now in use, or even supplant them in more limited ways. They could also supplement U.S. Customs and Border Protection ISR aircraft. There are additional questions surrounding the OA-1K beyond just AFSOC plans to employ the aircraft. The Air Force's stated plan is to leverage personnel and other resources from the divestment of U-28A Draco and MC-12 turboprop-powered crewed ISR aircraft to help field the Skyraider II. At the same time, the service, along with SOCOM, insists that the OA-1K is not intended as a direct replacement for those aircraft. SOCOM and AFSOC have faced criticism, including from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Congressional watchdog, over how these force structure decisions were made and the potential for resulting gaps in ISR capacity. 'Right now, our focus, really, at this point, is ensuring that the OA-1K is on time,' the Air Force official told us when asked about any plans for a more direct replacement for the U-28As and MC-12s. The Pentagon's top leadership under President Trump is also promising a major realignment of priorities in the proposed defense budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year. This is already having major impacts on various programs, especially within the U.S. Army, and other efforts across the services could be staring down major cuts, if not outright cancellation. 'I really don't have any info for you there,' the Air Force official told us when asked about any concerns that the OA-1K could be on the chopping block, especially over questions about its future relevance in high-end conflicts. 'I, frankly, don't know, and I don't have any indication that the program is going to get canceled. We've got our birds that continue to deliver. We're focused on, how do we get the crews trained? How do we get it outfitted to be able to make its first push down range to meet SOCOM requirements? And, you know, there's all kinds of speculation about budgets and whatnot out there, but right now, our focus is really not on that. It's about fielding the combat capability.' In the meantime, the Air Force is looking at launched effects with standoff range and other new capabilities, as well as concepts of operations to go with them, as potential paths to help keep its new OA-1K light attack aircraft relevant in various contexts going forward. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
AIM-9 Sidewinder-Armed Ukrainian Drone Boat: What We Know
Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) has officially shared the first picture of a Magura-7 drone boat armed with a pair of AIM-9M Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles for use as surface-to-air interceptors. This also appears to be the first look at the Magura-7 in any configuration. TWZ was the first to report on the claimed use of AIM-9-toting Magura-7s to shoot down a pair of Russian Su-30 Flanker fighters flying over the Black Sea in an exclusive interview with GUR head Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov that you can read here. GUR included the picture of the surface-to-air configured Magura-7 (also sometimes written Magura V7) in recent social media posts, including on X and Facebook, which also highlighted Budanov's interview with TWZ's Howard Altman. Naval News first published the picture on Sunday. How many Magura-7s GUR has at present is unknown. In an exclusive interview with Howard Altman for The War Zone, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, revealed new details about the Black Sea's May 2, 2025 operation. — Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) May 5, 2025 The picture notably shows the AIM-9s with protective caps over their seekers. The caps may be left in place to help keep the seekers protected from the elements, but some mechanism would then be required to remotely remove them before launch. The possibility has also been raised that the caps could point to the image showing an initial test of the platform, which is also very possible. The Magura-7 in the picture we now have has at least three rectangular satellite communications antennas, one at the bow end and two toward the stern, as well as various other fairings that could contain additional sensors or other equipment. Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USV) have typically been observed with a mix of communications antennas and electro-optical and/or infrared cameras to help with navigation and targeting. When engaging aerial threats with AIM-9Ms, the Magura-7 would require sensors capable of scanning the skies to provide initial cueing for the missiles. GUR released the video below, which it says shows the view from an infrared camera during one of the recent claimed Su-30 shootdowns, but a sensor of this kind is not plainly visible in the image we now have in hand. One possibility is that it could be absent in the picture for operational security reasons. And is that it was not mounted during tests, if the picture shown was taken early in the development of this drone boat-missile combination. GUR has already fielded another type of drone boat armed with Soviet-era R-73 air-to-air missiles for use in the anti-air role that uses an infrared camera for target acquisition and cuing, as seen in the video below. This could be the same sensor used in conjunction with the AIM-9M on the Magura-7. Infrared cameras are also a common feature on other improvised air defense systems in service in Ukraine and elsewhere globally that use repurposed infrared-guided air-to-air missiles as surface-to-air interceptors. The AIM-9Ms on the Magura-7 are loaded on aircraft-style launch rails that would be elevated before launch, but do not appear to provide any lateral traverse. This is significant since, as TWZ has pointed out previously, the M variant of the Sidewinder lacks the high-off-boresight (HOBS) capabilities of the aforementioned R-73. Missiles with HOBS engagement capability feature articulating seekers that make it easier for them to lock onto dynamic targets when loaded on a fixed launch rail. As such, the AIM-9M-armed Magura-7 looks as if it would have to be physically pointed relatively precisely in the direction of the target before launch. Meeting the parameters for a successful intercept from this platform could be very challenging, especially with the added factor of the drone boat bouncing up and down on the waves. Getting the targeted aircraft at the right height and distance to enter into the seeker's more limited viewing envelope wouldn't be that easy and it may require some amount of luck, at least based on the general launcher configuration we are seeing. It is worth pointing out here that the United States developed ground-based and naval air defense systems called Chaparral and Sea Chaparral during the Cold War that were armed with derivatives of fixed-seeker AIM-9 variants called MIM-72s. Both of those systems featured turreted launchers to help with target acquisition and cuing. When it comes to the Magura-7 itself, based on the AIM-9M's length of just over nine feet (2.85 meters), it looks to be around 23 to 26 feet (seven to eight meters) long. This would make it distinctly larger than the Magura-5 (or Magura V5) drone boat also in GUR service, which has a reported length of 18 feet (5.5 meters). How the Magura-7 performance compares to the Magura-5, which reportedly has a top speed of 42 knots, a cruising speed of 22 knots, and a range of 450 nautical miles, is unknown. It is not known whether Magura-7s exist in any other configurations, including as kamikaze drone boats. The Magura-5 was originally developed for kamikaze attacks, but has also been used as the aforementioned launch platform for adapted R-73 air-to-air missiles in the surface-to-air role. In December, GUR also claimed to have shot down a Russian Mi-8 Hip-series helicopter with a drone boat-launched R-73. Magura-5s may also be configured to launch first-person-view (FPV) type kamikaze drones for attacks ashore. For years now, Ukraine has been using a steadily growing array of uncrewed surface vessels (USV) configured as kamikaze drone boats and armed with other weapons against Russian warships, as well as bridges and coastal infrastructure. The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU, also known by its Ukrainian abbreviation SBU) has also fielded a version of its Sea Baby series of USVs armed with a 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun in a remote weapon station, which it claims it has used to engage Russian combat jets and helicopters, as well as patrol boats, as seen in the video below. Though it is unclear how wide a capability AIM-9M-armed Magura-7s might be at present, they do represent a new threat to fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operating over and around the Black Sea that Russian forces now have to take into account. For fast jets, the new anti-air drone boats would have to first catch the aircraft at lower altitudes. For context, Chaparral/Sea Chaparral's maximum engagement altitude is reportedly around 10,000 feet. At the same time, as Ukrainian drone boat capabilities have grown, Russian fighters and helicopters have been increasingly employed on counter-USV missions involving direct attacks using guns and other unguided munitions, which require flying at lower altitudes. USVs armed with AIM-9Ms (and R-73s) could leverage this dynamic to bait enemies into range. The new anti-air drone boats offer a useful addition to Ukraine's air defense arsenal overall, and one that opens up a use for an additional source of interceptors. Ukraine was previously known to have received an unknown number of AIM-9Ms from the United States and potentially other foreign partners, but this is the first confirmed instance of those missiles being utilized in any way. The Sidewinders could also be used as part of Ukraine's array of so-called FrankenSAM ground-based air defense systems or as armament for its new F-16 Viper fighters. Ukrainian forces have already publicly fielded a number of FrankenSAM systems that use R-73 air-to-air missiles as their interceptors. With GUR having now officially released a picture of an AIM-9M-toting Magura-7 after having disclosed its existence to TWZ, more details about the drone boat may now begin to emerge. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Liberty Lifter Ekronoplan Demonstrator Aims To Lift C-130-Sized Payloads
Aurora Flight Sciences has provided new details about the demonstrator design it is working on for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Liberty Lifter X-plane program. Liberty Lifter's core goal is to prove out a new ekranoplan flying transport design that employs the wing-in-ground (WIG) effect principle. A future aircraft based on the demonstrator could give the U.S. military a new way to affordably move large amounts of cargo and personnel across long distances, and without the need for traditional runways. Richard Koucheravy, Business Development Director for Manufacturing at Aurora, gave TWZ's Howard Altman an update on Liberty Lifter from the floor of the Modern Day Marine exposition today. In 2023, Aurora Flight Sciences and General Atomics received contracts to conduct initial Liberty Lifter work. Last year, DARPA selected Aurora Flight Sciences, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, to continue on alone in the development of what is hoped to be a flying demonstrator. The most recent concept art of Aurora's Liberty Lifter design shows a flying boat-style arrangement with a v-shaped hull for a fuselage and a large straight main wing with wingtip floats, all powered by eight wing-mounted turboprop engines. It also has twin vertical tails joined at the top by a horizontal stabilizer. Cargo, including light amphibious armored vehicles, has been depicted being unloaded via a large rear ramp, as seen in the video below. General Atomics had proposed a more radical-looking twin-fuselage design that you can read more about here. 'So we are designing a demonstrator that is roughly about 80 percent scale to the objective airplane,' Aurora's Koucheravy explained. This is a scale that 'is representative enough that you can pull some really good lessons out of it without having to build the full scale objective aircraft.' 'So now we're talking something that's closer to C-130 cargo size, 25-ton [payload],' he continued, adding that the demonstrator is expected to have a wingspan of around 216 feet. It will also use U.S. government-supplied engines, and Aurora said it would follow up with TWZ about exactly what type they are expecting to receive. DARPA has previously said the ultimate vision for Liberty Lifter is a design with a comparable payload capacity to the C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft. The C-17's stated maximum payload weight is some 82 tons, although the planes more typically fly around with around 60 tons or less worth of cargo and personnel inside. Liberty Lifter requirements that DARPA has released publicly in the past also include the ability to take off and land in open water in conditions up to Sea State 4 and 'sustained on-water operation' at up to Sea State 5. These two Sea States are characterized by wind speeds of 11 to 16 knots and 17 to 21 knots, as well as wave heights between three and five feet and six and eight feet, respectively. 'We're building a demonstrator with an unpressurized cockpit, because the aircraft is primarily intended to fly in ground effect, which, for an aircraft this size, it's going to be pretty close to the water. You're going to be within a few 100 feet of the water,' Aurora's Koucheravy explained. 'And in order to do that, if there's any level of Sea State, you've got to have the right technology to enable the aircraft to maintain ground effect for very long distances, even though you've got potentially some heavy seas. So that's one of the technical challenges of the program.' The idea of a flying platform utilizing the wing-in-ground (WIG) principle is not new, but designs of this kind have met with very little success historically, especially for military use. The Soviet Union remains the most notable operator of military WIG designs, known in Russian as ekranoplans – a term now widely used as a catch-all for WIG designs – but even there their service was limited. Efforts to revive military ekranoplans in Russia in recent years have so far not produced any operational types. The video below shows the only Lun, a cruise missile-armed design, that the Soviet Union ever completed being moved in the Caspian Sea in 2020 as part of a plan to put it on display. In principle, ekranoplans offer a highly efficient over-water craft that can move at high speeds since it does not suffer from the drag associated with typical ship designs while also benefiting from the lift generated by a wing. At the same time, high-speed sea-skimming flight presents challenges, as Aurora's Koucheravy highlighted, including the risk of collisions with various objects on the surface or even just high cresting waves. To help get around these issues, DARPA's Liberty Lifter program has called for something of a hybrid design that is still capable of operating like a traditional flying boat, if required, at 'altitudes up to 10,000 feet mean sea level with a compromise on range.' 'I think this early in an aircraft design where you have your preliminary design, you basically have the outer mold line of the aircraft, more or less set, you understand your configuration, but there's still design work to do once you go through that,' Aurora's Koucheravy said. 'And so we're excited to move into the detail design phase and start building the airplane.' DARPA is expected to make a decision about whether or not to proceed to the next step with Liberty Lifter this summer. Where Aurora might then begin actually building the demonstrator is still 'open question,' according to Koucheravy. 'You know, one of the objectives of the program is to look at maritime manufacturing processes to the max extent possible, rather than approaching this purely from the aerospace build,' he explained. 'So the aircraft will be built through a combination of maritime ship-building processes and aircraft build processes. This 'means we're going to be looking for a location that has a robust maritime workforce' that includes 'shipyards [and other] partners on the maritime build side that can help us build and assemble the aircraft close to the water, and then float the airplane,' he continued. 'This will not have landing gear. The demonstrator will not be a land based airplane. So it, shortly after build, at some point in the build process, it'll be floated, and it will live its entire life cycle, pretty much, on the water.' Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox, a subsidiary of Leidos, has notably been part of Aurora's Liberty Lifter team since the beginning. The maritime focus of Aurora's designs speaks to the broader objectives of what DARPA is looking to demonstrate with Liberty Lifter. 'The Liberty Lifter program is currently designing and will build, float, and fly an affordable and innovative seaplane that can potentially transform fast logistics missions for the DOD and commerce,' DARPA says on its current webpage on the program. 'Liberty Lifter's innovative manufacturing techniques and materials offer a path to utilize existing infrastructure to rapidly build – at low-cost – a capability essential for our warfighters, helping to advance the efficacy of our defense industrial base to meet near-term needs. Liberty Lifter could also provide sea-based search and rescue and disaster response at the scale of ships with the speed of air transport.' Moreso even than offering an alternative to traditional cargo aircraft, Liberty Lifter could provide a new tool for 'efficiently transporting large payloads at speeds far exceeding existing sea lift platforms,' according to DARPA. An over-water logistics capability that is faster than existing cargo ships and is not runway dependent like many traditional cargo planes could be particularly valuable in a future conflict in the Pacific. Especially in a high-end fight against China, U.S. forces in the region would be greatly dispersed, including to more remote locations without well-established infrastructure, to reduce their own vulnerability to attack. Existing traditional airlift and sealift assets would be heavily tasked in general to support those distributed operations. In addition, Liberty Lifter would be able to avoid many maritime threats like submarines and anti-ship missiles. A very-low-altitude flight profile typically improves overall survivability by helping conceal an aircraft from defenders, especially their radars. With all this in mind, runway-independent aviation capabilities, or at least ones that are less dependent on traditional airstrips, are of growing interest to the U.S. military. U.S. Special Operations Command had also been working on a floatplane version of the MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transport aircraft, but shelved that project last year, citing budgetary issues. The very capable Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 seaplane has also been discussed as another potential path to this kind of capability. For its part, last year, the state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced the start of series production of the AG600, a large seaplane that has been in development since the late 2000s. TWZ has highlighted in the past how the AG600 would be particularly well suited to supporting far-flung island outposts like the ones China maintains in the hotly contested South China Sea. Whether or not DARPA decides to proceed with Liberty Lifter and when Aurora's planned demonstrator may actually fly for the first time remains to be seen. The program is now looking at the potential start of flight testing in the 2028-2029 timeframe, a delay from the original 2027-2028 schedule. DARPA X-plane programs do not always come to fruition, something Aurora is directly familiar with from the cancellation of work on the XV-24 LightningStrike hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing-capable drone in 2018. 'DARPA is faced with a decision this year, this summer, on whether or not to move forward, execute [the] preliminary design review, and begin the detail design phase and the manufacture of the demonstrator,' Koucheravy acknowledged. 'I think we're as prepared as we can be to give DARPA what they need to make that decision, and we're excited for the opportunity.' For now, Aurora's design for what could be the basis of a new ekranoplan transport for the U.S. military is already becoming firmer. Contact the author: joe@
