펜타곤, 안두릴의 Roadrunner-M 대무인기 시스템 발주

[위종민]

펜타곤이 소형 무인기 사냥용으로 안두릴의 Roadrunner-M 대무인기 시스템과 이와 관련된 Pulsar 전자전 시스템을 500 세트 이상 발주했네요. 계약금액은 2억 5천만 달러 이상이고 올 마지막 분기에서 2025년까지 인도될 예정입니다. 

Roadrunner-M은 고폭약 탄두를 탑재하고 있으며 터지지 않았을 시에는 착륙 후 재사용이 가능한 수직이착륙 무인기이고, Pulsar 전자전 시스템이 단순히 드론의 재밍/무력화 용도인지, 또는 더 광범위한 전자전 임무를 수행하는 체계인지는 명확히 발표되지 않았습니다. 

Roadrunner-M은 안두릴이 회사 자체 자금으로 개발됐고, 아이디어에서 실전배치 가능한 솔루션으로 구현되기까지 2년도 안 걸렸다고 합니다. 올 1월부터 전투평가를 받았고, Pulsar는 작년 8월부터 비슷한 평가를 받았다고 하네요. 

Pentagon Spending Big to Counter Cheap Drones (airandspaceforces.com)

Anduril Industries said it received $350 million to build 500 high-explosive-equipped version of its Roadrunner uncrewed VTOL aircraft.

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Pentagon Spending Big to Counter Cheap Drones

Oct. 11, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The U.S. military is spending big bucks to find more systems that can counter cheap drones.

Anduril Industries has received a $250 million contract to supply an unidentified U.S. military service with “more than 500” Roadrunner-M counter-drone systems and associated Pulsar electronic warfare systems, the company said.

The disclosure comes a week after the Pentagon announced that its “Replicator II” effort will focus on counter-unmanned aerial systems, though isn’t clear if Roadrunner fulfills any Replicator requirement.

Under the contract, Anduril will start delivering the weapons starting in the last quarter of this calendar year through the end of 2025. The system is based on Anduril’s Roadrunner vertical takeoff and landing UAS, and the two have high modular commonality, the company said. The Roadrunner was developed by Anduril with its own funds, and the company said it went from “an idea to a combat-validated and fieldable solution in less than two years, which is much faster than most traditional contractor timelines.”

The Roadrunner-M carries a high explosive and can intercept UAS at high subsonic speed. If it is not necessary to detonate the system, it can be safely landed and re-used. The company called the system “the world’s first recoverable explosive weapon.”

As an interceptor, the Roadrunner-M “can rapidly identify, intercept, and destroy an array of aerial threats that are up to 100 times more expensive, or be recovered and re-used at near-zero cost.”

The system “will be deployed to operational sites in priority regions where U.S. forces face significant UAS threats, further enhancing U.S. air defense capabilities at the tactical edge,” Anduril said in a press release.

It isn’t clear from the announcement whether the Pulsar is intended to jam or disable a drone or perform some broader electronic warfare mission.

Roadrunner-M has been deployed operationally in a combat eval‎uation since January of this year, and Pulsar has been deployed in similar assessments since August of 2023, Anduril said.

The program is one of Anduril’s many new efforts designed to “support defense innovation [and] provide rapid, scalable solutions to safeguard U.S. forces.” The company recently unveiled its “Bolt” UAS  and “Barracuda” family of low-cost, modular cruise missiles. It is one of two competitors for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft Increment 1 contract.

The company said Roadrunner M is defined as “a new class of recoverable, ground-based air defense weapon.” Its twin-jet propulsion and VTOL capability pairs “high subsonic speed with exceptional stability and agility.” It is designed to be “future-proof” because it can carry modular payloads for a “broad set of missions and can be constantly updated to meet the threats of tomorrow.”

Anduril’s revelation came after a Sept. 27 memo from Defense Secretary Lloyd J.Austin III said that the second phase of the Pentagon’s “Replicator” initiative—aimed at large-scale production of autonomous platforms—“will tackle the warfighter priority of countering the threat posed by small uncrewed aerial systems (C-sUAS) to our most critical installations and force concentrations.”

The expectation is “that Replicator 2 will assist with overcoming challenges we face in the areas of production capacity, technology innovation, authorities, policies, open system architecture and system integration, and force structure,” Austin wrote. He wants a “meaningful” operational capability within 24 months of securing funding from Congress for the effort.

The project will “leverage the work of the Counter Uncrewed Systems Warfighter Senior Integration Group, and collaborate closely with other ongoing efforts.”

Roadrunner | Anduril

Introducing Roadrunner

[Minowski(김유철)]

이제 회전익이 아니라도 수직이착륙+재사용이 기본 사양이 되는 시대인가 봅니다. 스타쉽 슈퍼헤비 로켓도 이번에 성공시켰으니, 더 가벼운 비행체들은 도전해볼만한 수준으로 보이기도 합니다만.

[백선호]

사람이 타는 것은 tail-sitter로 만들면 너무 불편하지만 무인기는 별로 문제가 없네요.

[위종민]

재사용 가능하면 굳이 자폭이 아니라 기관포나 싸구려 직진로켓 달고 UCAV로 써도 될 것 같은데, 이러면 단가가 많이 오르려나요..