By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The idea of “loitering” munitions able to identify and destroy targets with increased measures of autonomy is now a well-evolved technology, as one must merely think of the now quite effective “Switchblade” drone now attacking Russian tanks in Ukraine.
The US Air Force is also well along with a cutting edge, AI-enabled weapons technology enabling bombs themselves to share information and adjust course autonomously while approaching targets. The Air Force Research Laboratory program, called Golden Horde, is testing with great success and shows promise for a massively increased ability for air-dropped and air-fired weapons to change course in flight and share data in response to new information or changing targets.
Sure enough, it is hardly surprising that the Chinese newspapers are now announcing that its CH UAV firm is developing a new “loitering” munitions based on the PRCs AR air-to-ground missile. In a manner quite similar to Golden Horde, the emerging Chinese weapon can reportedly perform “communications relay on the battlefield, radar disturbance and suppression, precision strikes against time-sensitive targets as well as battle damage evaluation,” a write up in the Chinese government-backed Global Times reports.
While the Chinese paper only discusses the weapon in general terms, its description of the new “munition” sounds like a clear Golden Horde “rip-off” attempt. The Chinese article says the weapon can “collaborate” with other weapons. Its not clear what “collaborate” may mean in terms of the Chinese weapon, yet the paper does say the weapon can share information in flight, a technology which seems to closely mirror Golden Horde. This considered, it is by no means clear that China’s data-linked collaborative weapon, autonomy and guidance is by any means comparable to evolving US systems, however the Chinese paper at least reveals the intent or “ambition” to achieve Golden Horde-like in flight weapons “collaboration” and a Switchblade-like ability to “loiter” and strike using a kind of ISR or surveillance capability.
“Characterized by its long endurance, super long range, high damage, high reliability and low cost, the loitering munition can conduct missions either independently or collaborating with other weapons and systems in an integrated system,” the Global Times reports.
The Chinese language very specifically mirrors several operational US programs and also appears as an attempt to replicate both the US “Switchblade” Kamikaze drones and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Golden Horde.
Golden Horde “rip off?”
While Golden Horde advances the technology to a new, paradigm-changing level, the ability for weapons to “datalink” in fight has been operational with the US military for years. The Tomahawk Block IV missile, for example, has a two-way data link enabling the weapon to adjust in flight to new target detail as well as “loiter” with an ISR, drone-like ability so survey a target landscape. The Air Force’s “Stormbreaker” is a long-range, precision-guided bomb which also operates with a data link and can travel as far as 40-miles to a target using its tri-mode seeker. The now operational Stormbreaker uses infrared, laser and millimeter wave targeting to guide its way to moving targets, in part using a “data link” to respond to changing target details.
“Referred to as a small suicide drone, typical loitering munition can carry out reconnaissance missions and hit its target through a self-destructive attack, the expert said, noting that multiple loitering munitions can work together for a combat chain of reconnaissance, attack and damage evaluation,” the paper says.
Kris Osborn President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Portions of this essay
