The U.S. Army has
released a new video giving the first look at a new and highly classified weapon. “Long Range Effect” is a loitering munition, a drone which cruises for an extended period under operator control, locating targets with onboard sensors before diving down like a missile.
The new weapon is part of a family of munitions known as Air Launched Effects (ALE) launched from helicopters or other Army assets. The video was taken at the Experimentation Demonstration Gateway Event 2021, commonly known as Edge 21, at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in May. The video shows a variety of new technologies at work. There are clips of a light combat vehicle launching a smaller loitering munition, ALE-Small. This is based on the
Altius-600 drone, a highly capable system with a range of over 250 miles, which is also being
upgraded with advanced artificial intelligence.
If ALE-Small has a range of 250 miles, how far out can a system described as Long Range reach?
Journalists at the event were shown but not allowed to take pictures of video of the new weapon and few details were released. Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen, in charge of Army aviation modernization,
told Defense News in a recent interview that: “We have payloads that we want that are a little bit bigger, and so we have a form factor that is a bigger form factor.”
The Army's new 'Long Range Effect' is a loitering munition, a drone which cruises for an extended period under operator control locating targets with onboard sensors before diving down like a missile with pinpoint accuracy.
www.forbes.com
Loitering munitions are playing a significant role in this war.
The US Army tested a classified loitering munition last year that can strike targets well in excess of 400 km. The munition is pictured above. These are far more advanced than the Switchblades being used by the Ukrainians.