The U.S. Army will start executing within a month a fielding plan for acquiring and delivering Launched Effects-Short Range (LE-SR) air vehicles to every division by the end of next year, a senior officer said Oct. 13.
The move follows a three-week demonstration in August by the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which involved the Aevex Atlas, Anduril Altius 600 and the RTX Coyote Block 3.
The demonstration assigned LE-SRs to an infantry unit, a Stryker armored fighting vehicle unit and an aviation unit, Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, director of the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, said during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference. The panel was hosted by Defense News.
The event also involved a division-level planning staff, so they could help the Army understand how LE-SRs would be employed from a planning standpoint.
“We learned a ton,” Baker said.
Army aviation officials briefed the service leaders earlier this month on the acquisition plan for the LE-SR program.
“So that is starting to move out in the next 30 days,” Baker added.
The Army also is creating a plan to field a family of Launched Effects-Long Range air vehicles by the end of fiscal 2026, as well, Baker said.
The Launched Effects concept, which also includes a future Medium-Range variant, augments ground and air units with affordable and expendable systems. Depending on the mission and available payloads, the vehicles can be sent forward into dangerous areas to either sense enemy targets, spoof or jam emitters at close range or destroy the targets. In the latter case, they may either be available to release small munitions or attack the target themselves.
