The versatility of a longer, multifunctional radio-controlled quadcopter system seems quite significant, as it enables the possible use of a wide range of weapons and supports the launch of mid-range targeting and attack operations.

The military is building its new Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aerial Vehicle with the ability to deploy mid-attack drones to either find and identify enemy targets or destroy them by employing a precise explosive. The service is currently evaluating a Lockheed-Tikorsky Raider X helicopter and Boeing’s Investus 360.

Boeing’s Investus, for example, is built with an interchangeable weapon bay to launch mini and even medium-sized attack and surveillance drones sailed Aerial Launch Effects (ALE).

These mini drones, demonstrated effectively by the army in 2020 during its Project Convergence experiment in the Arizona desert, can move forward from a mapped helicopter position to identify targets, send back real-time intelligence data and video, or detonate themselves as explosives to eliminate enemy targets. They were an essential element of the army’s successful AI-enabled networked killing webs project Convergence, which shortened the sensor-to-shooter timeline from minutes to seconds.