The U.S. Army is experimenting with launching the Area-I small Agile-Launch Tactically Integrated Unmanned System drone, or ALTIUS, from an ultralight tactical vehicle. The drone has already been launched from Army MQ-1C unmanned aircraft and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, as well as from an Air Force XQ-58A Valkyrie stealthy unmanned aircraft, but this is the first time that we’ve seen it used by the U.S. military in this type of vehicle-borne capacity.
A photo posted to Twitter today by the Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team shows the familiar shape of a brightly painted ALTIUS launched from one of two Pneumatically Integrated Launch Systems (PILS) attached to what appears to be a DAGOR ultra-light tactical vehicle. According to Area-I, which was acquired by Anduril Industries in April, the ALTIUS-600 has also been launched in the past from C-130, AC-130J, P-3, and civilian aircraft, as well as from undisclosed ground vehicles, although few details are available.
