Latest news with #LASSO
Forbes
10-07-2025
- Forbes
The U.S. Army's $170,000 Attack Drone Competes With $500 FPVs
The SwitchBlade 600 is the Army's choice for its LASSO project New budget documents show that the U.S. Army is making a little headway in its efforts to catch up with Ukraine and Russia acquiring small attack drones like the ubiquitous FPVs. But they also show there is still a very long way to go, and rather than abundant low-cost systems, the Army will be fielding a few expensive systems for the immediate future. Low Altitude Stalking And Strike Two years ago, back in July 2023, the U.S. Army announced a new Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) program. The new weapon was on an 'an urgent capability acquisition pathway to rapidly deliver this capability to the Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT).' The project was clearly inspired by Ukraine, where small FPV quadcopters were taking out Russian armor at long range, and would give the Army similar capability 'LASSO is a man-portable, tube launched, lethal payload munition, unmanned aerial system. It includes electrical optical /infrared sensor, precision flight control, and the ability to fly, track and engage non-line-of-sight targets and armored vehicles with precision lethal fires. LASSO currently consists of three modules: the launch tube, unmanned aerial system, and fire control station.' A U.S. marine with a tube-launched attack drone (note gas supply for the launcher) The big difference here is that LASSO would have an infrared sensor or thermal imager, These are still rare on FPVs because they typically add $200-$500 to the cost, so daytime FPVs generally lack them. And while in Ukraine FPVs are carried in a backpack and launched from a stand, the U.S. Army wanted a tube-launched version. This would be fired out by compressed air or other gas, then unfold its wings, making for a quicker and easier launch but at the cost of some cost and complexity. The LASSO requirement is for a 20-kilometer range and the ability to destroy armored vehicles including tanks, doing the same job as FPVs, There are a wide variety of FPVs in use in Ukraine, varying in size, payload and extras. Typically, they cost around $500. Ukrainian drone fundraiser Serhii Sternenko – who has supplied a staggering 200,000 FPVs to the military, and targeted by an assassin as a result -- – quotes $300 for a small 7-inch FPV and $460 for a 10-inch, On the other side, Russian maker Frobotics offers an entry-level model for $315 and heavy lift (20-pound warhead) for $756. Ukraine is building vast numbers of FPV attack drones These are made in vast numbers. Ukraine recently announced it had increased drone production to 200,000 per month or about 6,000 per day. In December 2023 AeroVironment announced that the Army had selected their SwitchBlade 600 for the LASSO requirement. The Switchblade 600, launched in 2020, is the big brother to the SwitchBlade 300 with longer range and a bigger warhead. The Switchblade 300 was used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan against 'high-value targets' from about 2012. Budget documents showed Switchblade 300s cost $52,914 a shot , but there was no information on the exact pricing of the 600, until now., Follow the Money The U.S. Army's procurement budget for missiles for FY2026, released last month, gives a little more detail on LASSO and the rationale for it: 'Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs) lack adequate proportional organic capabilities at echelon to apply immediate, point, long range, and direct fire effects to destroy tanks, light armored vehicles, hardened targets, defilade, and personnel targets, while producing minimal collateral damage in complex terrain in all environmental conditions.' LASSO will 'enable the Soldier to make multiple orbits within the IBCT typically assigned battlespace, to acquire and attack targets within and beyond current crew served and small arms fire' In other words, doing exactly what FPVs do in Ukraine. But how many would be acquired and for how much? The document shows the Army is buying 294 SwitchBlade 600 LASSO rounds at a cost of $170,000 each. In addition, the Army is also acquiring 54 ground control units; rather than the commercial controllers costing a few hundred dollars seen in the hands of Ukrainian FPV operators, these go for $69,204 each. This really goes to show what has been observed many times before: that producing high-specification gear in tiny quantities means you pay boutique prices. That tiny quantity will limit the number of operators trained, and they are not going to be firing a lot of live rounds in training. The Javelin missile costs more than SwitchBlade 600, has a much shorter range, and requires the ... More target to be within sight It is worth noting at $170k a shot only looks extravagant in the context of the hardware used by Russian and Ukraine. By military standards it is fairly normal. The same procurement budget shows the Army's latest batch of Javelin anti-tank missiles costing $221k apiece – and the reusable control unit needed to fire them is another $208k. And if that sounds pricey the Army's new hypersonic LRHW missile will cost a whopping $36 million a time. 'Expensive' is all a matter of what you are used to. FPVs For the Army In another budget though, we find that the Army is also getting something more like the FPVs used in Ukraine via a very different program. The Army's Aircraft budget for FY2026 includes money for 'FPV/PBAS' – 'PBAS' being 'Purpose Built Attritable System' which is the Army's new buzzword for expendable drones. The PBAS will carry a variety of 'lethal/non-lethal armaments and munitions.' As in Ukraine these may be fitted along with the battery immediately before launch. One PBAS system consists of 'First Person Viewer (FPV) goggles, controller, leader display, two 10" air vehicles and four 5" air vehicles' and costs $34,826. Depending on the other items, the drones are likely around $5k each. Making drones in the U.S. will always be more expensive because they cannot simple use low-cost Chinese components like the Ukrainians and Russians, and labor and other costs will inevitable be higher. $5k may be expensive by Ukrainian standards, but it will conform to U.S. military specifications, and the production run is small. Considering that only 1,057 systems are being ordered, the $5k price tag may be the best that can be expected. It does at least mean that this program is delivering more than 20 times as many attack drones as LASSO for less total cost. The PBAS requirement is being met by a variety of suppliers, likely including Neros, previously noted for supplying thousands of FPVs to Ukraine. Neros co-founder and CEO Soren Monroe-Anderson told me that in Ukraine he was told that any firm wishing to supply the market needed to be able to supply 5,000 FPVs a month or go home, and their business is based on large numbers of low-cost drones. Neros' Archer is a low-cost, U.S.-made attack drone currently being supplied to Ukraine This week Monroe-Anderson told Defence News that Neros is aiming to be able to produce 10,000 drones monthly by January, and that the longer-term vision a factory to produce one million drones per year with the U.S. Defense Department as its primary customer. The Real Battle These budget documents reveal the battle inside Army procurement between traditional legacy suppliers and high-cost established products against disruptive newcomers offering low-cost tech in vast numbers. To an outsider, the way forward might seem obvious. But the defense business has its own way of working. In Ukraine and Russia, FPVs were so vital that many soldiers started out buying drones with their own money until the military procurement process finally started supplying them. Another chink appeared this week with an Army call for solicitations, with the goal of acquiring thousands of drones rapidly at a cost of less than $2k a unit. They want more, faster, cheaper than LASSO. Maybe next year will see the Army putting its money behind small drones in a big way. But an entrenched bureaucracy is a tougher opponent to shift than a dug-in tank battalion.
Skift
03-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Event Tech News Roundup: June 2025
As AI sweeps across the event tech landscape, June's developments show a sector racing to redefine value through smarter tools, deeper data, and strategic consolidation. The real winners? Planners who can keep pace with the change. This past month's event tech headlines illustrate a broad spectrum of focus areas. The news covers real-time audience analytics updates, AI-assisted platforms and rebranded AI-centric strategies to name a few. These developments reflect both the maturation and ongoing innovation within the industry. The momentum is clearly toward integrating intelligent automation, enhancing user experiences, and consolidating capabilities across the event lifecycle. While these moves promise greater efficiency, they also point to a more competitive and data-driven future for event tech. Acquisitions LASSO has acquired Shoflo, a provider of run-of-show and teleprompter software, from Cvent. Cvent had acquired Shoflo in August 2021 during its push to expand its offering around virtual event production. Acquiring Shoflo adds live show management capabilities to LASSO, including real-time collaboration and show calling. With the new integration it will focus on what it calls RFP to invoicing capabilities. The platform will offer support for planning, staffing, inventory, and financial management in a single solution. Product Launches Outernet London has launched PIAMS (Public Immersive Audience Measurement System), a real-time visitor analytics tool. The system was developed with spatial analytics specialist Meshh and Virgin Media O2. It uses mobile data and spatial sensors to captures detailed footfall, dwell time, and engagement patterns every five minutes. This enables event organizers and brand partners to measure ROI by aligning audience behavior with specific content and time slots. PCMA has launched Destinaitor, an AI-powered destination and venue research platform developed with dFakto. Previewed at edUcon 2025, the platform uses data provided by Tempest and Simpleview. It covers a wide range of details about venues and destinations, including sustainability, safety, and infrastructure. Access is free for planners, while suppliers can pay to validate their profiles, add data and access analytics. SpeakerStacks is a new platform designed for speakers to capture leads directly from their sessions, without relying on organizers for attendee data. It helps convert speaking engagements into an actionable sales pipeline. Launched in the UK, by industry veteran and co-founder of Event Tech Live Adam Parry, the platform offers branded landing pages accessed via QR codes, GDPR-compliant lead forms, AI-generated follow-ups, CRM integrations, and ROI reporting tools. Visual Hive has launched Erleah, an AI-powered platform offering personalized session and networking recommendations, premium matchmaking placements, and real-time analytics. Delivered as a managed service, it supports year-round community engagement and integrates with existing tech stacks for unified attendee insights. Cvent has introduced CventIQ™, a new AI-powered layer integrated across its event and hospitality platform. Announced at Cvent CONNECT 2025, CventIQ enhances workflows with tools like AI-generated proposals, real-time session sentiment analysis, personalized attendee dashboards, and automated content creation. The platform aims to streamline operations for planners, marketers, and venue professionals through smart automation and tailored insights. Meeting and travel management platform Groupize has rebranded as to showcase a shift to an AI-first strategy. The platform now includes AI-powered modules like DSai for compliance-driven digital sign-in, Marketplace AI for venue sourcing, and Aime, a planning agent. Strategic partnerships with AMGiNE, and MeetingPackage expand its capabilities, including AI-driven air booking and real-time venue availability. Meeting booking platform Hubli has launched EasyPay, a virtual card feature developed with payment provider Conferma. The tool allows corporate event planners to issue virtual cards for each hotel or venue booking, improving payment speed, compliance, and transparency. Integrated into the Hubli platform, EasyPay addresses key payment pain points with automated reconciliation and secure, auditable transactions tailored for meetings and group accommodation. NoteAffect, a note-taking focused event tech tool, has launched event-engage, an AI-powered session engagement platform. The tool enables real-time attendee interaction using session room AV, accessed via QR codes or event apps. Features include AI-driven note-taking, live multilingual captioning, session recordings with summaries, and engagement analytics. Other Event Tech News Gartner's June 2025 Magic Quadrant for Event Marketing and Management Platforms evaluated event management platforms for in-person and virtual B2B events. Gartner classified Bizzabo, Cvent, RainFocus, and vFairs as 'Leaders,' SpotMe as a 'Challenger,' and Swoogo, Stova and EventMobi as 'Niche Players.' The list was considerably different to previous years due to two acquisitions: Brandlive acquired 6Connex and Cvent acquired Splash. Gartner also said it stopped focusing on virtual-first event management platforms (Brandlive, Cisco, Kaltura, RingCentral, Zoom) that featured in previous years. events. Trade show management platform Map Your Show has partnered with NoteAffect to integrate AI-powered session engagement tools into its event management platform. This partnership brings features like interactive note-taking, multilingual captions, searchable recordings, and engagement analytics to trade show sessions.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Check out the Hellhound, a 375-mph 3D-printed turbojet-powered exploding drone competing for a spot in the US Army's arsenal
Cummings Aerospace showed off its Hellhound loitering munition at SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida. The system is mostly 3D-printed, can fly at speeds over 375 mph, and is powered by a turbojet engine. CEO Sheila Cummings told BI said the drone's design and features make it unique compared to others on the market. A couple feet long, rounded, relatively lightweight, and easy to make, this exploding drone can fly fast and attaches to a rucksack. That's the basics of Hellhound, a loitering munition made by Cummings Aerospace based in Huntsville, Alabama. This kind of weapon features characteristics of both missiles and drones, delivering surveillance and strike in a single package. The Hellhoud recently completed flight tests and a few demonstrations before being submitted to a top US Army drone competition. Earlier in the year, it was tested in the Army's Expeditionary Warrior Experiment 2025. Loitering munitions are becoming more prolific and playing a role in conflicts like the war in Ukraine. As a turbojet-powered drone, the Hellhound is unlike many other loitering munitions. The top speed is nearly three times faster than the popular Switchblade made by AeroVironment. Hellhound wrapped up flight tests earlier this year, and the S3 version of it, which Business Insider saw up close at SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida, is in submission for the US Army's Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, program. LASSO requires select companies to build 135 munitions and 35 prototypes immediately. It's a new-start program, the goal of which is to give infantry brigades better stand-off weapons capabilities. Cummings Aerospace's CEO Sheila Cummings told BI that much of how her company is thinking about the Hellhound has been with modularity, ease of manufacturing, and warfighter feedback in mind. She also said the system is affordable but wouldn't disclose a specific cost or price range. At first glance, the Hellhound loitering munition, sitting inside its case, looks a bit like a boogie board. Weighing less than 25 pounds, the weapon is fairly lightweight and easy to pick up and carry. There are straps on the bottom that can attach it to a soldier's rucksack, something Cummings said was a key suggestion from soldiers who wanted the system to be as man-portable as possible. The majority of a Hellhound is 3D printed. Cummings estimated that, depending on the number of printers, they could fully print a Hellhound in a few days at least and a week at most. Any part that isn't 3D-printed is commercial off-the-shelf, an increasingly important quality for the weapons and systems that the US military acquires as it speeds up the process. The US military has been pushing for more of its systems, especially the uncrewed weapon systems, to be suitable for production on a large scale, interchangeable capabilities and components, and supply chain flexibility. There's a growing realization that for future wars, inexpensive, easily made weapons will be needed in mass in a protracted, large-scale conflict against a major rival like China. A key development of the Ukraine war has been how Ukraine has created an arsenal of cheap drones for surveillance and precision strike. That's something militaries around the world are watching closely given how effective it's been. "We're really trying to minimize the exquisite, custom products," Cummings told BI, explaining that the Hellhound's payload, too, can be interchanged with different sensors or warheads depending on what the mission requirements are simply by twisting and unlocking the nose. A defining characteristic of the Hellhound is its turbojet engine. Cummings said it's a differentiator for the system and company as it not only reduces fuel usage but also increases speed. Cummings Aerospace advertises the Hellhound as being able to fly faster than 375 mph with a range of around 25 miles. The turbojet engine is also a commercially available product, Cummings said. She said the munition's shape, sleek and long, also aids with aerodynamics. Cummings Aerospace has imagined Hellhound swarms in the field providing a mix of intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance and strike. The focus on loitering munitions — which can, as the name suggests, loiter in an area before diving in to strike a target — comes amid efforts to give troops on the ground stand-off strike capabilities. These weapons have seen widespread use in the war in Ukraine, and Russian loitering munitions, like its Lancet drones and Iranian-made Shaheds, have been high-value targets for Kyiv's forces. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
13-05-2025
- Business Insider
Check out the Hellhound, a 375-mph 3D-printed turbojet-powered exploding drone competing for a spot in the US Army's arsenal
A couple feet long, rounded, relatively lightweight, and easy to make, this exploding drone can fly fast and attaches to a rucksack. That's the basics of Hellhound, a loitering munition made by Cummings Aerospace based in Huntsville, Alabama. This kind of weapon features characteristics of both missiles and drones, delivering surveillance and strike in a single package. The Hellhoud recently completed flight tests and a few demonstrations before being submitted to a top US Army drone competition. Earlier in the year, it was tested in the Army's Expeditionary Warrior Experiment 2025. Loitering munitions are becoming more prolific and playing a role in conflicts like the war in Ukraine. As a turbojet-powered drone, the Hellhound is unlike many other loitering munitions. The top speed is nearly three times faster than the popular Switchblade made by AeroVironment. Hellhound wrapped up flight tests earlier this year, and the S3 version of it, which Business Insider saw up close at SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida, is in submission for the US Army's Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, program. LASSO requires select companies to build 135 munitions and 35 prototypes immediately. It's a new-start program, the goal of which is to give infantry brigades better stand-off weapons capabilities. Cummings Aerospace's CEO Sheila Cummings told BI that much of how her company is thinking about the Hellhound has been with modularity, ease of manufacturing, and warfighter feedback in mind. She also said the system is affordable but wouldn't disclose a specific cost or price range. At first glance, the Hellhound loitering munition, sitting inside its case, looks a bit like a boogie board. Weighing less than 25 pounds, the weapon is fairly lightweight and easy to pick up and carry. There are straps on the bottom that can attach it to a soldier's rucksack, something Cummings said was a key suggestion from soldiers who wanted the system to be as man-portable as possible. The majority of a Hellhound is 3D printed. Cummings estimated that, depending on the number of printers, they could fully print a Hellhound in a few days at least and a week at most. Any part that isn't 3D-printed is commercial off-the-shelf, an increasingly important quality for the weapons and systems that the US military acquires as it speeds up the process. The US military has been pushing for more of its systems, especially the uncrewed weapon systems, to be suitable for production on a large scale, interchangeable capabilities and components, and supply chain flexibility. There's a growing realization that for future wars, inexpensive, easily made weapons will be needed in mass in a protracted, large-scale conflict against a major rival like China. A key development of the Ukraine war has been how Ukraine has created an arsenal of cheap drones for surveillance and precision strike. That's something militaries around the world are watching closely given how effective it's been. "We're really trying to minimize the exquisite, custom products," Cummings told BI, explaining that the Hellhound's payload, too, can be interchanged with different sensors or warheads depending on what the mission requirements are simply by twisting and unlocking the nose. A defining characteristic of the Hellhound is its turbojet engine. Cummings said it's a differentiator for the system and company as it not only reduces fuel usage but also increases speed. Cummings Aerospace advertises the Hellhound as being able to fly faster than 375 mph with a range of around 25 miles. The turbojet engine is also a commercially available product, Cummings said. She said the munition's shape, sleek and long, also aids with aerodynamics. Cummings Aerospace has imagined Hellhound swarms in the field providing a mix of intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance and strike. The focus on loitering munitions — which can, as the name suggests, loiter in an area before diving in to strike a target — comes amid efforts to give troops on the ground stand-off strike capabilities. These weapons have seen widespread use in the war in Ukraine, and Russian loitering munitions, like its Lancet drones and Iranian-made Shaheds, have been high-value targets for Kyiv's forces.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cummings Aerospace ready to manufacture Hellhound munition
Cummings Aerospace is now ready to manufacture its Hellhound loitering munition at what equates to low-rate production, CEO Sheila Cummings told Defense News in a recent interview at its new production facility near Huntsville, Alabama. The company chose a space next door to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, home to the program office and testing and development for Army aviation, in 2021 and designed and built a facility intended to produce large numbers of the drones. 'The work we have done to date, not only with the development of the vehicle, but preparing for major acquisition and production of these vehicles, has been a huge focus for us,' Cummings said. 'We're really excited that we are now at manufacturing readiness level 7.' The classification equates to a defined production workflow at the facility and the establishment of work instructions for building the air vehicles. Hellhound, weighing less than 25 pounds, flew faster than 350 miles per hour at full throttle while passing distances of 20 kilometers using just 50% of its fuel, according to the company. The air vehicle is the first major end-to-end weapon system developed by Cummings Aerospace, a Native American woman-owned small business founded in 2009 as an aerospace engineering outfit with expertise in design, development, production and sustainment of capabilities, including missiles, radars and command-and-control system technologies. Hellhound will be demonstrated in several upcoming events with special operations, the U.S. Navy and even abroad in the U.K. this summer, according to Cummings. 'We're using these demo opportunities, in addition to our flight tests, to ultimately execute low-rate production,' Cummings said. 'We're talking about quantities of 12 to 14 vehicles for these demos,' she added, 'but it's really allowing us to fully vet our production process.' The military is changing the way it acquires weapon systems and, in many cases, requires companies to prove they can build systems at scale as part of competitive acquisitions. Historically, a weapon system might be chosen for its performance on the battlefield without much attention paid to the amount of work it would take to build a system or even how stable the supplier base was. Cummings Aerospace wrapped up flight tests of its turbo-jet-powered, 3D-printed kamikaze drone earlier this year and is readying the S3 version of its man-portable Hellhound for submission to the U.S. Army's Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, competition set to kick off later this year. The competition would require the company to build 135 munitions total and would expect companies chosen to build 35 prototypes right out of the gate. In Cumming's opinion, the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Indo-Pacific have underscored the need to ensure production capacity and understand the supply chain and its risks. 'That's what's driven the whole modular design and making sure that we have an open systems architecture and be able to swap in technologies very readily,' Cummings said. A large portion of the air vehicle is made using commercially available 3D printers in-house and buying commercially available standard parts that are not unique to just a few suppliers, Cummings said. 'If you think about low-cost solutions — that's part of the strategy — is we have to design something that we can get screws from multiple vendors, we can get 3D print material from multiple vendors,' she said. 'We talk about exquisite payloads, that's a different challenge, but electronics, we have to make sure we can source them from multiple vendors.' And to surge even further, Cummings said there are other solutions that are easy to implement like licensing the design to other suppliers to go and produce using standard 3D printers to help expand production capacity. For the Huntsville facility, Cummings said her goal is to produce at least 100 air vehicles a month. 'Payloads obviously drive some of that,' she noted, but added that there is room to grow beyond that, whether it's next door or using the supplier base to ramp up demand. The expectation now is 'not just a new, novel technology or capability, but prove that you can make it,' Cummings said. 'So we're proving we can make them and make them at scale.'
