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Marines test drones fired by grenade launchers
Marines from an Experimental Infantry Battalion in North Carolina recently tested 7-inch-long drones that can be fired from a grenade launcher capable of monitoring or executing suicide missions with an accuracy of strike at close range.
Photos and videos of Marines from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, showing them testing Drone 40 and Switchblade drone at a Lejeune firing range in early July were published by the Body.
Earlier in 2021, British soldiers were using a surveillance variant of the Drone 40, manufactured by Defendtex, an Australian company, in Mali, in Africa, on mission, The reader reported. Although the British Army used them via hand-launched versions rather than in their grenade launchers, at the time.
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The Defendtex Drone 40 has a GPS-based autopilot system that can be fired from a grenade launcher or put into the air by hand, according to the company’s website.
It’s a reusable device and can have a quick-change payload bay for a variety of drone-based packages, according to the website.
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The drone weighs less than half a pound, when launched it extends up to 7 inches, can fly for 30-60 minutes, and has a maximum range of 20 km.
Current payloads include surveillance, electronic warfare, kinetics, smoke / flash, and laser designator, according to the company’s website.
The Marines in the published photos were throwing the drone by hand and retrieving the device with a net system for reuse.
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The Marines are improving their grenade launching capabilities by fielding the M320 stand-alone grenade launcher for better accuracy than the older M203 launcher that was attached under the barrel of an M16A2 service rifle.
The Corps publicly began the search for a tube drone that could monitor or serve as roaming ammunition in 2018, the Marine Corps Times previously reported.
The request at the time was for a drone capable of performing fire support at distances of 40 to 60 km and being used in all operating environments.
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The same proposal wanted secure, GPS-compatible communication links for operators to guide the drone between 25 and 60 km.
The other drone, the Switchblade by AeroVironment, has been in use by the US military for more than a decade, first used by US Air Force special operations and then contracted for the military in 2011, Military Times sister publication C4ISRnet reported in 2015.
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Not quite man-compressible, but Defendtex also makes the Drone 155. This drone is, you guessed it, launched from a 155mm artillery tube. It weighs 20 kg or more, depending on payload and flies up to two hours at a distance of 80 km, according to the company’s website.
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