While much attention has focused on the long-term development of unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), Air Launched Effects (ALE) technology from rotorcraft is advancing faster.
ALEs will require an intuitive interface to reduce cognitive overload, effectively command and control heterogeneous ALE teams, maintain a common operating picture with rapidly changing situational awareness data, and manage various levels of autonomy.
Command and control of multiple drones, or teams of drones, from crewed platforms is a relatively new domain of military research that will rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and complex collaboration algorithms.
Anduril Industries, in partnership with engineers from Leonardo UK, has completed a series of live trials of new technologies that will underpin the development of ALE capabilities, including releasing and controlling drones in mid-air from host aircraft.
Alongside the UK MoD, the company is working to launch and control UAS from rotorcraft physically, examine the ‘effect’ to be achieved and derive the Concept of Operation, swarm the effectors, and determine the cognitive burden associated with controlling and fighting both the rotorcraft and the ALE. Leonardo has employed several ALTIUS-600 drones produced by Anduril’s subsidiary AREA-I, designed to be launched in a variety of ways, including from common launch tubes.
In July 2026, the US Army launched Project Convergence-Capstone 6 (PC-C6) at Fort Irwin, California, to experiment with future technologies by significantly expanding the scope, scale, and complexity of operations previously tested at the Ivy Sting and Ivy Mass exercises. During PCC6, US Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters fired a Launched Effects Dispenser for Ground and Rotorcraft/Unmanned Vehicle Control (LEDGR/UVC) to validate its first production-line Long-Range Precision Munition. They set a fiscal year 2027 fielding target for the weapon. Two Active/Passive Infrared Launched Effects executed a detect, identify, locate, and report mission to pinpoint a threat and beam its location back to friendly forces, before a third lethal ALE carrying a Long-Range Precision Munition executed the actual strike.
Comprised of an air vehicle, multiple payloads, and a Mission System, ALE will be a crucial piece of an army’s ability to extend the organic reach, lethality, and survivability of manned platforms with Operator-on-the-Loop autonomy.
by David Oliver
