Airbus has unveiled LOAD, a new anti-drone drone concept — an adapted target drone that will be armed with small air-to-air missiles, expressly designed to shoot down other uncrewed aerial vehicles. In recent years, we’ve seen a proliferation of single-use drones with explosive warheads that are designed to bring down other uncrewed aerial vehicles. However, a reusable anti-drone drone, armed with its own tiny missiles, appears to be something of a novelty.
Airbus revealed LOAD — which stands for Low-Cost Air Defense — at the DWT Unbemannte Systeme X uncrewed systems trade show in Bonn, Germany, today. The company says it wants to test fly an armed prototype by the end of the year, with a series-production ready by 2027.
LOAD is intended to be cheap and rapid to produce. Its starting point is the Do-DT25, a target drone originally developed by EADS of Germany and now an Airbus product. The company describes it as a medium-speed target able to simulate attack aircraft for short-range infrared missile training. It would also be applicable for simulating cruise missiles.
Using a target drone as the basis for a drone with a combat mission and weapons of their own is not unheard of. Previous other examples include the Kratos Air Wolf, which is based on the MQM-178 Firejet airborne target, and the larger UTAP-22 from the same company, which is based on the BQM-167A Skeeter target drone.
When adapted for LOAD, the drone is armed with miniature air-to-air missiles — two of these are shown under the wings in an Airbus concept artwork. Other reports state that it will carry three and, in the future, potentially more.
LOAD will be launched using a mobile pneumatic catapult — as used for the Do-DT25 — after which it will have an operational range of around 60 miles, providing a valuable increase in the reach of air defense networks. While the drone is intended to be cheap enough to be considered attritable, it will have the option of being recovered by parachute, after which it can be reused.
Hellbound and Down 