Soldiers with the US Army's Experimental Force have flown the Black Hornet 3 to test hunter-killer unmanned aerial system configurations. (Janes/Meredith Roaten)
Soldiers are increasingly getting their hands on uncrewed systems that can team with other uncrewed systems, and US Army officials are hoping to take advantage of a boost in innovation from the bottom.
Soldiers and engineers will fly unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) in the new Maneuver Innovation Lab at Fort Moore, Georgia, for training and experimentation with new payloads, officials told Janes on 7 February.
Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS), Short-Range Reconnaissance (SRR), Medium-Range Reconnaissance (MRR), and Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance (LASSO) among other programmes are fed by the lab and units such as the army's transformation in contact (TiC) brigades.
In Hohenfels, Germany, one of the TiC brigades – 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division – flew new UASs and faced challenging weather conditions during Exercise ‘Combined Resolve' in January through February 2025.
“I always tell everybody we know that the drone technology and some of these technologies are moving very rapidly,” General Randy George, chief of staff of the army, told reporters on 12 February. “The drones that they had were different” than previous training rotations that TiC units went through in 2024, marking progress in the army's learning campaign, he said during a media roundtable.
Soldier Borne Sensor
Black Hornet has been involved with the SBS programme for many years, building off its Black Hornet 2 (BH2) nano-UAS. An additional award was given to Teledyne FLIR for USD92 million in 2024.
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