Gallery: On Display At AUSA 2023

Kaman was showing off its Kargo uncrewed aerial system (UAS), which—along with Near Earth Autonomy—recently won a U.S. Army contract for its heavy-lift vertical-takeoff-and-landing UAS program. The service is tasking the system with demonstrating it can move at least 800 lb. (363 kg) over 100 mi. Near Earth, the prime contractor, will provide autonomous navigation, obstacle detection and a manual override ability.

Moog has created a hybrid-electric air vehicle that company officials say is capable of executing contested logistics missions. The Recluse HE350 evolves the company’s S250 electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing testbed, which completed a test campaign with the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX Agility Prime. The aircraft uses JP-8 jet fuel, but is compatible with synthetic fuel. It can be moved in a standard shipping container or an Air Force 463L pallet. And, company officials say, after making a delivery to a far-flung base, it could be used on the ground to provide power.

The UK company Rotron Aerospace is hunting for investment dollars for an uncrewed vertical-takeoff lift system it calls the Talon DT-300. The Talon can carry up to 66 lb. (30 kg) up to 43 mi. (70 km). It can carry out logistics, surveillance or deep-strike missions. The company says it could produce the aircraft at a rate of up to 200 per month—and that it could be ready for operations in Ukraine within a month.
 

Quadcopters keep getting deadlier. Aim-Lock is developing product lines for semi-autonomous aerial vehicles that carry rifles, grenade or rocket launchers along with imaging systems.
 

The Switchblade 600 loitering munition is the larger version of the Switchblade 300, which in March won $65 million to provide the systems for France and another country. The Switchblade gained renown for its use against armored vehicles in Ukraine.
 

The Altius loitering munition boasts an open architecture system to allow it to be easily fitted with multiple seeker or weapon systems. The company says one operator can control multiple airframes at the same time, and that it can fly for more than 4 hr.