美国防务新闻4月5日讯

美空军在研的XQ-58A无人攻击机在3月26日首次成功地进行了自动开启载荷舱并投放小型无人机的试验。XQ-58A是空军研究实验室正在研制的“可消耗”型无人攻击机，是人工智能“空中僚机”的备选型，单价仅约300万美元，可重复飞行使用，作为通信节点与F-35有人机自主飞行、协同作战。本次试验是XQ-58A第6次飞行试验，投放的是ALTIUS-600小型、管发射、自主式无人机， 重12.24公斤，载荷2.72公斤，续航4小时，可执行电子战、信号情报、反无人机、情报监视侦察功能，也可全副武装遂行动能毁伤。空军认为，本次试验不是概念演示，而是具有强大作战能力的预生产系统试验。

Valkyrie drone launches even smaller drone from inside payload bay

By: Valerie Insinna    DEFENSE NEWS APRIL5

The XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrates the separation of the ALTIUS-600 small UAS in a test at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground test range in Arizona on March 26, 2021. This test was the first time the weapons bay doors opened in flight. (U.S. Air Force)

WASHINGTON — The Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie drone successfully launched an even smaller unmanned aircraft from inside its internal weapons bay on March 26, the U.S. Air Force announced Monday.

During the Valkyrie’s sixth flight test at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, it opened its payload bay doors during flight for the first time and released an ALTIUS-600, a small, tube-launched autonomous drone made by Area-I, a Georgia-based company that designs unmanned aerial systems.

The Valkyrie is an “attritable” drone, the word the military uses for an asset that can be reused but is cheap enough that a commander would expect and be comfortable with a certain amount of losses while in combat.

The Air Force is experimenting with using the Valkyrie as a communications node for the F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, as well as assessing it as a potential Skyborg system that would be equipped with artificial intelligence and be able to fly autonomously alongside tactical aircraft.

ALTIUS-600 can be launched for a variety of missions, including electronic warfare, signals intelligence, counter-UAS, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and it can be outfitted to produce kinetic effects. It can weigh up to 27 pounds — including a 6-pound payload stored in its nose — and has an endurance of about four hours, according to Area-I.

Both Kratos and Area-I worked with the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop software and fabricate a carriage that would allow the Valkyrie to release the ALTIUS-600, the lab said in a release.

Once the launch of the ALTIUS system was finished, the Valkyrie completed additional tests geared toward expanding the aircraft’s flight envelope, the lab said.

“In addition to this first [small UAS] separation demonstration, the XQ-58A flew higher and faster than previous flights,” said Alyson Turri, the Air Force’s program manager for the demonstration.

Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said the success of the ALTIUS release “adds an exclamation point to the 30-month development of the Valkyrie system by the Kratos and AFRL team, which resulted in a pre-production system with substantial operational capability, not simply a proof-of-concept flight demonstrator.”

The Army is also experimenting with the ALTIUS platform as part of its air-launched effects demonstrations, including last year’s Project Convergence demo, which saw the UAS deployed from an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone.

Last week, Anduril Technologies announced plans to buy Area-I and operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary that would retain the Area-I brand.

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