Huntsville: Alabama-based Cummings Aerospace is readying its Hellhound for submission to the US Army’s loitering munition competition set to kick off later this year, having recently wrapped up flight tests of its turbo-jet powered, 3D-printed kamikaze drone.
The company took its S3 version of its man-portable loitering munition out to the Pendleton Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range in Oregon this month and was able to verify and validate the system’s performance against the Army’s preliminary Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, program requirements, CEO Sheila Cummings said in a January 28 interview.
“We were able to successfully demonstrate that we could meet the range requirements for LASSO and then ultimately trying to make sure that we’re exercising the max flight speed and so we achieved that,” Cummings said. “We were also able to successfully integrate an inert warhead and conduct flights with that as well as test other subsystem functionality that are critical to overall system verification and validation.”
Hellhound is unique among loitering munitions because it uses turbojet propulsion which provides increased speed, according to Cummings. “It also gives you the ability to throttle the engine so it gives you a lot more flexibility in your mission in order to maximize either range or flight time,” Cummings said.
In the tests, the loitering munition, weighing in at less than 25 pounds, flew faster than 350 miles per hour at half throttle while passing distances of 20 kilometres using just 50% of its fuel, according to the company. It performed in wind, snow and very low temperatures.
