US Marines practice with flying flocks of Drone40 grenades
The Drone40 system is a cheap small quadcopter that can be launched from the hand or fired from a grenade launcher. It can carry sensors, smoke or blinding charges, or a highly explosive or armored piercing warhead. A single soldier or small unit with these drones can launch a flock of Drone40 and attack one or more targets with it at the same time.
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Discharging Drone40 from the hand. Credit: US Marines.
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Drones are gradually becoming a common part of armaments. They can take a very diverse form. Social Media The US Marine Corps recently introduced Marines training with the remarkable small Drone40. They are cheap drones resembling a toy, so they can be disposed of by various sensors or an explosive charge. Then they actually act like flying grenades. The soldier can release them from his hand or fire them from a 40 mm grenade launcher. The Marines of the 2nd Marine Division experimental unit, on June 7, 2021, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, participated in tests with Drone40.
British soldier with a grenade launcher and a Drone40. Credit: Crown.
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The handy tactical drones Drone40 already have other armies in their arsenal. British troops deployed them earlier this year as part of a mission in Mali. Both the British and the Americans use 40 mm grenade launchers that can launch these drones, such as the German Heckler & Koch AG36 grenade launchers. In Mali, however, the British apparently only use the Drone40 in a reconnaissance version, launched from the hand.
Drone40 is manufactured by the Australian company DefendTex. It is actually a small quadcopter that can carry an electro-optical camera system, electronic warfare systems, devices for laser marking of precision-guided ammunition targets, or smoke or dazzling warheads. In destructive versions, it can carry highly explosive or armored piercing charges. The drone measures about 18 centimeters and weighs about 220 grams. The great advantage of Drone40 is that these drones can operate together in a flock or even in a heterogeneous flock with other types of autonomous systems.
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Drone40. Kredit: DefendTex.
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If the Drone40 is not used in suicide mode, it can be picked up and used again next time. According to DefendTex, they are therefore water-resistant, so they can be put on and picked up again in bad weather or at sea. In terms of control, the Drone40 has an autopilot with a GPS navigation system or can be controlled from a portable ground station that communicates with the drone encrypted radio data line.
The flock capabilities of the Drone40 system are a great promise for use in combat missions. Thanks to them, more “shots” can be attacked with these drones at the same time (MSRI or Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact). It works so that a single soldier can launch or detonate several drones in a suicide version with destructive warheads. The drones then circle over the battlefield and at the appropriate time can attack one or more targets at the same time. If a relatively small unit, equipped with Drone40 systems, launches a volley of these drones, which then strike simultaneously, it can effectively attack complex targets over a larger area. Such a target can be, for example, an armored vehicle and soldiers who are in a cover behind the vehicle.
Video: U.S. Marines test the lethal Drone40 Autonomous loitering grenade with swarming capabilities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ2WxyCEoXk
Literature
The Drive / War Zone 9. 7. 2021.
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