The U.S. Department of War, which has been implementing numerous programs in recent years to equip the American military with a significant number of drones, including various types of strike UAVs, is now seeking new container-type launchers from which these drones could be launched (and returned if necessary), which would be suitable for both ground and naval platforms, and could also launch drone swarms.
As The War Zone reports, earlier this week, the Pentagon's defense innovation unit laid out requirements for a containerized launcher, designated the Containerized Autonomous Drone Delivery System (CADDS), with the primary focus on finding solutions using new and improved commercial technologies.
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This must be a truly universal solution because, on one hand, the specific types of drones it should launch are not specified. On the other hand, a need to launch homogeneous and heterogeneous combinations of uncrewed aerial vehicles is stated.
It is also unknown how many drones one launcher should accommodate. Still, a modular solution with several launchers placed side by side and connected to a single system is not ruled out.
Other requirements include launcher compactness, deployment time of no more than several minutes, and a crew of no more than two people.
Despite the drone launch system requiring autonomous elements, there must also be an option for operator-involved decision-making.
The publication also notes that the launcher must not only be able to launch drones but also receive drones that return from missions.
Defense Express notes that this, on one hand, expands the operational variability of such a product and allows the use of a truly wide range of drones, but on the other hand, complicates the launcher itself.
Aside from this detail, such a launcher is generally not new, and similar solutions are offered by many companies around the world for different drones with different capabilities, including quantitative ones.
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