By The Smartencyclopedia Staff
Fort Campbell, KY – December 3, 2023 – The Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Project Management Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Special Operations Command, successfully launched the Altius 700 drone from a Black Hawk helicopter for the first time on December 3, 2023, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The demonstration marked a significant milestone in the Army’s Launched Effects program, which aims to develop and deploy capabilities that allow for the launch of unmanned systems from manned aircraft. The Altius 700 is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle that is designed to provide persistent surveillance, communication relay, and other mission capabilities.
“The successful launch of the Altius 700 from a Black Hawk helicopter is a major step forward in the Army’s development of launched effects capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Eric Finley, Project Manager for UAS for the Army. “This demonstration validates the Altius 700’s ability to be launched from a variety of platforms, which will be critical for future operations.”
The Black Hawk served as a launch platform for the Altius 700 during the demonstration. This is a significant risk reduction event for upcoming Altius 700 test flights, which will be conducted from both manned and unmanned aircraft.
“The ability to launch the Altius 700 from a Black Hawk helicopter provides us with additional flexibility and capability in the field,” Finley said. “This demonstration also validates our ability to integrate launched effects capabilities into a variety of existing platforms.”
The Altius 700 is a critical component of the Army’s Launched Effects program. The system is designed to provide advanced teaming between crewed and uncrewed systems to detect, identify, locate, and report pacing threats in contested environments.
“The transformational capabilities launched effects brings to large scale combat operations provide corps, division, and joint commanders with effective and timely targeting, enabling fires and effects at the time and place of need,” Finley said. “The successful launch of the Altius 700 from a Black Hawk helicopter is a major step forward in our efforts to develop and deploy these critical capabilities.”
The first test flight of the fully integrated launched effects prototype is scheduled to take place in early 2024. The test will demonstrate the prototype’s performance with the payloads and mission system controlled by the prototype scalable control interface software. Additional testing will follow, leading up to a final operational demonstration by the end of the fiscal year 2024 and a rapid fielding decision of the launched effects prototype scheduled in 2025.