Friday, July 31, 2026

Is a Gold-Plated Aerial Drone the Way to Go?

If you send armed drone tiltrotors into battle, aren't armed helicopters controlling them a needless middle man? Heck, isn't the expensive drone tiltrotor an overly expensive means of delivering fire support?

Huh: 

Anduril announced plans to make an autonomous attack tiltrotor that the company hopes the U.S. Army will pair with its helicopters for future missions. 

Nicknamed Thunder, the vertical-takeoff-and-landing rotorcraft is to be autonomous, heavily armed, hybrid-electric powered, and roughly group five-sized. It’s being designed to “be packed into a standard shipping container” for easy transport ...

Company officials say multiple uncrewed tiltrotors could accompany each crewed helicopter on a mission.

Why not cut out the manned helicopter middle man? 

And honestly, do we need the drone tiltrotor for fire support?

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here. 

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NOTE: Anduril image from the article.