Ukrainian Long-Range One-Way Attack Drones To Be Tested By U.S. Military

Two Ukrainian drone firms, both partnered with American companies, are among those now set to demonstrate long-range one-way designs to the U.S. military as part of a project called Artemis. The effort is focused primarily on exploring kamikaze drones with extended range that are resistant to GPS jamming/spoofing and electronic warfare threats. This is a clear reflection of key trends observed in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) announced today that it had awarded four contracts under Artemis for the production of prototype drone designs that will then be evaluated under operationally relevant conditions, hopefully well before the end of the year. Two of those deals went to U.S. drone makers Aerovironment and Dragoon Technologies. The other two went to U.S. software firms Auterion and Swan, both of which are paired with unnamed Ukrainian drone companies. Now a decade old, DIU is tasked with helping the U.S. military leverage new and improved commercial technologies to meet various requirements.

Aerovironment’s Switchblade 600, examples of which have been supplied to the US And Ukrainian armed forces, are among that company’s existing portfolio of kamikaze drones. Aerovironment

“DIU is partnering with the Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (A&S) to execute a FY24 [Fiscal Year 2024] Budget line item directing operational testing of platforms in relevant Electronic Warfare (EW) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied environments,” according to a DIU press release. “Congressional direction for this effort had a goal to provide loitering munitions capable of operation in an electromagnetic contested environment, at a price point that allows for mass deployment.”

DIU says it, together with A&S, evaluated 165 proposals for Artemis over the past four months before settling on the final group to proceed to the operational evaluation phase.

“Flight demonstrations to verify stated capabilities of down-selected companies” have already occurred, according to the DIU release. “In order to have a successful prototype by the end of FY 2025, the next step is meeting an aggressive testing and integration schedule to complete prototyping and demonstrate success by the end of May 2025.”

DIU has not provided any details about actual drone designs that are now set to be demonstrated under Artemis, but it has provided a set of core requirements. “The final Artemis capabilities will be ground-launched, affordable one-way UAS platforms that operate at ranges from 50-300 km+ [31-186+ miles], launch quickly and expeditiously, navigate at low altitudes, carry a variety of payloads, are rapidly updatable and upgradable, and functional in disrupted, disconnected, intermittent and low-bandwidth and Global Navigation Satellite System denied environments,” according to today’s release.

One of Dragoon Technologies’ existing drone designs. Dragoon Technologies

It is also worth noting here that the line between longer-range kamikaze drones and traditional cruise missiles is becoming increasingly blurry. An uncrewed system meeting DIU’s Artemis requirements, which include the ability to “carry a variety of payloads,” could be adapted to other roles, including acting as a decoy while carrying an electronic warfare system. Loitering munitions can also have inherent secondary surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

Aerovironment’s Switchblade 600 loitering munition already meets at least some of the DIU requirements based on publicly available information. Aerovironment is a major supplier already of kamikaze drones and other uncrewed aerial systems to the U.S. military and other armed forces globally, including that of Ukraine. Just last year, the company secured a contract from the U.S. Army for Switchblade 300s and 600s valued at nearly $1 billion.

Dragoon Technologies has also previously received multiple smaller contracts from the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies for the development of relevant low-cost/single-use drone capabilities.

Without knowing the identities of the Ukrainian companies involved, it is impossible to say what their designs might look like, but firms in that country have already demonstrated a wide array of longer-range one-way drones in the ongoing conflict with Russia. This includes propeller and jet engine powered types, as well as ones converted from crewed civilian light aircraft. Many of these types have maximum ranges well beyond what DIU says it is looking for with Artemis, and have been used to good effect on airbases, oil and natural gas infrastructure, and other strategic targets deep inside Russia.

The war in Ukraine has also underscored the threats posed by GPS jamming/spoofing and electronic warfare on modern battlefields, especially against drones. Russian forces have been notably successful in disrupting Ukraine’s employment of Western-supplied precision munitions that use GPS-assisted guidance.

Though DIU’s announcement today does not explicitly mention the conflict in Ukraine, it does say that the “Project Artemis goals are directly tied to observations of current real world combat conditions as well as feedback from end users across the DoD on what capabilities may be needed in this space to face near peer threat capabilities around the world.”

Artemis also reflects larger concerns within the U.S. military about the adequacy of current stocks of longer-range munitions and the ability to relatively quickly and affordably replenish them. Lower-cost standoff munitions in particular are increasingly seen as a critical way to bolster existing stockpiles ahead of a potential high-end fight, especially one in the Pacific against China, and to help sustain that inventory during a protracted conflict. Expanding the available supplier base for such munitions beyond traditional defense contractors is also viewed as a key element of these efforts.

“We are excited about the non-traditional companies who are providing low-cost, adaptable, long-range, UAS platforms with the potential to maximize operational flexibility for the Joint force,” Trent Emeneker, the program manager for Artemis at DIU, said in a statement today. “This was the intent of Congress’ direction to rethink how to get capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale that can deliver much faster than traditional Programs of Record.”

DIU has a separate effort underway in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force called the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV), which is similar in some respects to Artemis, but is focused on demonstrating designs that could evolve into low-cost cruise missiles.

The Anduril Barracuda-500M, one of the designs now being developed under the Enterprise Test Vehicle program. Anduril

U.S. military officials have also highlighted the potential value of long-range one-way attack drones for smaller allies and partners.

“What we’ve seen with Ukraine and Russia [is] that there’s a lot of cheap systems that enable the exquisite and we have countries here in NATO that would be happy to build those… because they can’t afford the exquisite stuff,” Air Force Gen. James Hecker said during a virtual talk hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies last July. “And that can be complementary to the exquisite and, sometimes, it can actually do the mission by itself.”

“And then you throw in the high-low mix, where now I can take 15 countries that really couldn’t afford and couldn’t help a whole lot within NATO with exquisite stuff, now they can purchase one-way UAVs that can make the exquisite better or sometimes even do the mission,” Hecker, who was and still is head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and Air Forces Africa (AFAFRICA), as well as NATO’s Allied Air Command, added at that time.

If nothing else, DIU’s Artemis project, which will now test one-way drone designs from Ukrainian firms, underscores the significant impact that conflict continues to have on military trends globally.

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