As a general rule, one of the great fears of Western General Staffs is to see modern and powerful equipment, the very equipment which gives them the superiority of their forces, falling into the hands of their adversaries. This was for example the case for portable surface-to-air missiles like the Stinger or the Sa-14, or for anti-tank missiles like the Javelin or the Kornet. But it happens, rarely it is true, that it is the insurgent adversary who puts into service a technology that Western General Staffs decide to copy and assimilate. The use by Islamic State insurgents of light drones to transport light munitions to the adversary is one.
This type of drone has been widely used by Daesh forces in Iraq and Syria, against local forces as well as against Western or Russian forces present there. It is, as a general rule, a light commercial drone, like those manufactured by the millions each month in China, costing only a few tens of euros, on which a light ammunition, such as a grenade, is installed. The drone can be controlled remotely or have a programmed route, with charging automatically activated when the target destination is reached. These drones offer significant possibilities, particularly for reaching entrenched forces, whether in a trench, a bunker or a building, and do not require the operator to expose themselves for launch or target designation. In addition, they are difficult to stop, as available weapons such as assault rifles or machine guns are not particularly effective against such small and fast targets.
The potential of such a weapon system did not escape the US Army, which tasked the Army Contracting Command with urgently finding manufacturers and service providers for the program. Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System, or LMAMS, to design and supply a light drone transportable by a soldier, and which, equipped with a light charge, mine or grenade, can be directed towards an indirect target to deliver the ammunition. Unlike the drones used by Daesh Islamists, the US Army wants to permanently maintain control of the device, and in particular have the possibility of modifying its target, canceling the mission, or suspending firing.
The Request for Information issued by the US Army also highlights the guidance capabilities of the drone, and therefore the carrying of detectors, day and night, with possible target discrimination, while the control post will allow the management of the mission. In addition, the system architecture must make it possible to integrate the control functionalities with other future control interfaces, in order to avoid the American military having to transport one control station per piece of equipment. But the biggest difference with the artisanal drones used in the Middle East is based on the possibility given to the drone to locate and engage its target by its own means, even if the notion of “man in the loop” is recalled. several times by the RFI. By equipping this drone with a homing device and an engagement capability, it will probably become the world's first self-guided anti-personnel weapon. The Defense-blog site includes all the expected functionalities in this article.
It is not a killer robot in the sense often fantasized by literature or anticipation cinema, but, technically, it will look a lot like one...