Loitering munitions are emerging as an alternative means of achieving anti-armour effects with options including AeroVironment's Switchblade 600, which features the Javelin warhead. (Aerovironment)
As the US closely monitors the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, US Army's Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) has been deployed with one of the army's transformation in contact (TIC) units in European Command (EUCOM) area of responsibility, Janes has learnt.
The service's 10th Mountain Division has been experimenting with new capabilities alongside two other TIC formations for more than a year. While division headquarters is still in the continental US (CONUS) executing exercises like ‘Summit Strike '24' in Fort Drum, New York, 3rd Brigade was deployed to Romania in June 2024.
LASSO has been fielded with that formation, Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Childers, 10th Mountain Division's G-3 Operations officer, told Janes on 21 November. The capability is one of several army efforts designed to move unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability down to lower echelon.
While some loitering munitions are anti-personnel, LASSO is intended to take out armoured platform, meaning the attack UAVs will be on the larger side.
US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) bought Hero 120 loitering munitions in June 2024, according to a company announcement. During ‘Summit Strike ‘24', participating USSOCOM units brought the weapons to Fort Drum, Lt Col Childers said in an interview.
The munitions were one of the several offensive effects used to prosecute electronic warfare targets. “During the exercise, our electronic warfare personnel sensed an emitter that we had built and placed out in the impact area, and then pass that target all the way forward to the team that was able to launch the loitering munition, identify the target, and destroy it,” he explained.
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