AM Normal and Hornet have unveiled a brand new HUMVEE Saber idea car in a full drone warfare configuration: the HUMVEE SABER BLADE EDITION, particularly designed for drone warfare. Current conflicts have demonstrated the rising significance of drones and loitering munition, whether or not as offensive vectors or as reconnaissance techniques. To supply a extremely succesful, extremely cellular platform to hold these drones safely and effectively on the battlefield, AM Normal, in collaboration with Hornet and AeroVironment, has developed the HUMVEE Saber Blade Version, introduced for the primary time at AUSA 2022. This new HUMVEE Saber model options AeroVironment’s Switchblade loitering missiles, and a Hornet Air Guard Distant Managed Weapon System with Counter-UAS answer by Hornet. The loitering munitions on the HUMVEE Saber Blade Version embody the Switchblade 300 and Switchblade 600 that present quickly deployable, loitering precision strike missiles to be used towards non-line-of-sight targets. Switchblade 300 is small and has a quiet motor, making it tough to detect, recognise, and monitor even at very shut vary.
The HUMVEE Saber Blade Version was designed to function near entrance line battlefields and launch its drones to have interaction enemy high-value targets equivalent to HQ, tanks and artillery. Trendy battlespaces will also be very simply crammed by a big number of small, short-range drones, each armed and non-armed, a few of which originate from the civilian market. Fight areas will thus be increasingly subjected to threats of detection, acquisition and/or engagement by smaller drones at very quick distances. To reply that rising downside, the HUMVEE Saber Blade Version is supplied with a Hornet RCWS by Hornet in an Air Guard configuration, which ensures short-range detection and neutralisation of hostile drones across the car. Upon detection of a hostile drone, the operator is robotically warned of the menace and might validate an RCWS rally with identification by way of optronics. The drone can then be neutralised with the automated 40mm grenade launcher and an air-burst grenade. Such a function also can have interaction and destroy an armed or suicide drone attacking the HUMVEE Saber earlier than it could actually get too shut.
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The Hornet Air Guard is a secondary anti-drone functionality, first introduced in 2022, which enhances the Hornet RCWS and its native features: surveillance, hearth, and self-protection due to an impartial smoke grenade launcher ring. The Hornet Air Guard provides a Gonio RF (Hydra from Cerbair) and a radar that are fitted on the Hornet’s impartial smoke grenade launcher ring. Each techniques continuously scan the world whereas the RCWS can nonetheless be used usually for commentary or fight missions. Switchblade 600 missiles are additionally built-in on the truck. The Switchblade 600 represents the subsequent technology of extended-range loitering missiles and options excessive precision optics and over 40 minutes of endurance. Switchblade 600 gives unprecedented RSTA (Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Goal Acquisition) and precision strike capabilities towards bigger, hardened targets by way of an anti-armor warhead. The detection of enemy drone presence within the neighborhood warns the crew of a doable detection and permits for a swift extraction of the HUMVEE Saber from the hazard zone due to its superior mobility.
Such an info is important in current-day operations, with extremely environment friendly counter-battery procedures, the place drones have critically diminished resolution time in addition to inter-arms communication and coordination. Along with its anti-drone operate, the Hornet Air Guard’s radar also can contribute to the surveillance and intelligence gathering within the zone of operations. Thus, there isn’t a want for the operator to be an anti-drone educated specialist. The system retains the impartial GALIX smoke grenade launcher of the Hornet RCWS, successfully defending the car throughout fight operations. The Battlenet system by Arquus coordinates all these features collectively. With its Switchblade loitering missiles and the Hornet Air Guard from Hornet, the HUMVEE Saber Blade Version brings extremely environment friendly surveillance and aggression capabilities on the battlefield, on and past the entrance strains, whereas making certain its personal self-protection towards close-range air threats in full autonomy. With the HUMVEE Saber Blade Version, AM Normal and Hornet current a flexible, coherent answer, tailored to trendy warfare, bringing unprecedented tactical and strategic impact.
