General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced that it has successfully fielded a new air launch effects platform that is additively manufactured from the internal weapons bay of an MQ-20 Avenger unmanned system.
The company partnered with Divergent Technologies, Inc. to design and build the Advanced Air-Launched Effects, or A2LE, vehicle using Divergent’s Adaptive Production System (DAPS) “to support rapid, low-cost manufacturing of the demonstration vehicle,” it said in a statement.
The Nov. 28 demonstration at Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground showed that additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, early in the design process can create efficiencies, the company said. It is a key step in validating the AM process and material properties for integration into future systems to be used by both manned and unmanned platforms.
The flight was “a critical first step in demonstrating GA-ASI’s ability to rapidly develop, manufacture and test an Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) in a controlled, low-risk approach,” said Mike Atwood, the company’s vice president advanced programs. he said in the announcement. “A2LE demonstrates the coupling of GA-ASI’s aircraft design capabilities with Divergent’s DAPS, paving the way for continued maturation of affordable, modular SUAS platforms that can be tailored to meet the needs of warfighters at a fraction of the cost and delivery time of current systems. .”
The company plans an A2LE network that provides a “permanent, extended mesh” for surveillance, attack, suppression of enemy air defenses or communication paths, according to the statement, while augmenting current and future manned and unmanned platforms with increased capability.
The U.S. military has been extensively evaluating launch effects for about five years and is looking at different launch effect size categories. It is evaluating an initial small launch effects prototype – a collaboration between Anduril Industries, RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Aurora Flight Sciences – as it experiments with the requirements and capabilities for a future program.
The agency plans to launch these small, unmanned aircraft not only from aerial platforms, but from launchers on the ground or off vehicles. It has demonstrated the capabilities several times, including the service’s first Edge exercise in 2021, which experiments with the technology to improve operations in the air tier.
General Atomics showed off another ALE – the Eaglet – that the company developed from a Gray Eagle UAS a year ago.
The Eaglet would fit into the large class, the company said, which translates to being able to carry a wide variety of more powerful sensors and payloads. Gray Eagle could still carry it for thousands of kilometers before jettisoning it. The A2LE is considered to fit the small segment.
“General Atomics is approaching the future of unmanned aerial vehicles and systems from a ‘family of systems’ approach,” said C. Mark Brinkley, spokesman. “Whether air-launched or ground-launched, recoverable or expendable, we see these aircraft offering different options configured for different missions.”
The company is working on several launch effects offerings in addition to the Eaglet and A2LE, such as the Sparrowhawk and LongShot, Brinkley added.
“They’re all similar and they’re all different, but the main issue here is affordable mass at scale, which attacks a variety of problems in a variety of ways,” he said.
“It wouldn’t be fair to compare these aircraft individually at this point because they’re all driven by different requirements and intended uses,” Brinkley noted, “but each of these programs absolutely leverages the best practices and lessons learned from each other.” program to the other to help us iterate and innovate very quickly.”
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist who covers land warfare for Defense News. He has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
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