New Drone Can Drop Variety of Munitions on Targets.

• Author: Eckert, Cambrie

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A manufacturer has developed a cigar-shaped advanced delivery drone that can efficiently drop a variety of munitions on targets without loitering.

The new unmanned aerial vehicle Aero Strike is based on a counter-drone product, AeroGuard, which was designed to detect, capture and dispose of aerial threats, said Max Klein, chief technology officer for Huntsville, Alabamabased SCI Technology.

"The capability Aero Strike provides is effectively a lower-tier aircraft bomber, similar to how AeroGuard is an autonomous, lowertier air-to-air fighter aircraft," Klein said on the sidelines of the Modern Day Marine conference.

"While various terrorist organizations have been using consumer drones for years to drop mortar rounds and other warheads onto their targets while maintaining their operators well out of harm's way, the use of more purposebuilt, one-way trip loitering munitions has been pushed into the public light by the war in Ukraine," Klein said.

Unlike so-called suicide drones, AeroStrike is a fully autonomous, reusable platform that can carry various munitions, including anti-armor and anti-personnel munitions, on a rail underneath its heavy-lift, high-speed airframe, Klein said. "AeroStrike allows the [munitions] to be dropped on the target while the delivery...