Today, Anduril unveiled its newest large tilt-rotor attack drone, dubbed “Thunder,” that aims to deliver the firepower of an Apache gunship combined with the speed and range of the Army’s new MV-75 Cheyenne II.
So, this large, new, attack drone might be capable of delivering thousands of pounds of ordnance to targets well over 900 miles away, at speeds that are likely to exceed 300 miles per hour. Or to put that into clearer context: imagine an Apache that can fly almost twice as fast and three times as far while carrying roughly the same payload, and delivered for what Anduril says will only be a fraction of the price.
Thunder is a Group 5 unmanned aerial system, which means it falls into the largest category of drone platforms and is capable flying at altitudes higher than 18,000 feet.
Anduril envisions this attack drone serving as an extremely capable drone wingman for the U.S. Army’s existing fleet of 800 or so AH-64 Apaches, in a similar way to how Anduril’s YFQ-44 Fury will soon fly alongside F-22s, F-35s, and the forthcoming F-47, Thunder’s development team said to Sandboxx News before the drone’s reveal.
Thunder boasts primary internal weapons bays that opens on both sides, as well as an additional counter-drone weapons bay positioned on its nose.
Its primary weapons bay is capable of housing up to 10 AGM-114 Hellfires or the more modern AGM-179 JAGMs; they can also carry 10 of Anduril’s similarly-sized but turbojet powered Barracuda 100Ms that can strike targets from nearly 140 miles away.
Alternatively, in that same space, you could cram four M261 m19-tube rocket pods capable of employing the new AGR-20, also known as the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II – a small Hydro-rocket based air-to-air missile purpose built to take down one-way attack drones. In this configuration, this means that a single Thunder drone could carry a gigantic counter-drone air-to-air loadout of 76 weapons.
Or, that same space could be used to carry and launch up to 16 Air Launched Effects, like Anduril’s tube-launched Altius 600 and 600M, which are propeller-driven loitering drones capable of flying intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, electronic warfare operations, or carrying a small nine-pound warhead to targets as far out as 99 miles.
The nose payload bay, Anduril told Sandboxx News, houses another dozen counter-drone effectors meant to defend Thunder from drones that may want to take it down, though so far, we don’t know what specific types of effectors these might be.
Details about Thunder are limited, but Anduril’s team told Sandboxx News that the drone should offer similar range and speed to the new MV-75 Cheyenne, previously called the V-280 Valor.
Feature Image: Anduril’s Thunder tilt-rotor attack drone. (Anduril)
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