AeroVironment launches Red Dragon: new autonomous UAS for contested environments

The U.S. defense contractor AeroVironment has presented a new one-way attack drone, the subtle way to refer to a suicide drone, called Red Dragon, which the company has designed to operate with a ‘very limited user interaction’. This kamikaze drone is the first of a ‘new generation of autonomous systems’ designed for ‘scalability, speed and operational relevance’. It is prepared to be resilient to electronic warfare media and can operate in envi…

AeroVironment launches Red Dragon: new autonomous UAS for contested environments

Red Dragon is built on AeroVironment’s AVACORE software architecture, allowing for rapid development, scalable manufacturing, and modular mission integration. It features the company’s SPOTR-Edge perception system, which enables target detection and classification to support operator decision-making through AV’s proprietary DDIL radio system. According to AeroVironment, Red Dragon combines autonomy, electronic warfare resilience, and tactical fl…

Red Dragon Highly-Autonomous One-Way Attack Drone Unveiled

AeroVironment has rolled out a new long-range loitering one-way attack drone called Red Dragon that the company designed to operate with very “limited user interaction.” The highly autonomous munition uses a visual navigation system and an optical seeker to make it more survivable, especially in the face of enemy electronic warfare systems. Red Dragon’s capabilities also underscore an ongoing debate around lethal autonomous weapons, which has gr…