XQ-58A Valkyrie releases ALTIUS-600 drone in flight for the first time

For the first time, the XQ-58A Valkyrie drone has released a drone of its own in the air during a test flight – the ALTIUS-600. It was the Valkyrie’s sixth flight since March 2019 and the first to test this capability.

This was announced a few days ago by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the research organisation of the US Air Force. The test took place on 26 March at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, one of the largest military ranges in the world. According to the announcement, not only was a new capability tested; the drone also flew faster and higher than on previous flights. Beyond that, little is known about the course of the test. That does not make it insignificant, however – the aircraft and the capabilities tested are interesting for several reasons.

The Valkyrie drone lives up to its name: in Norse mythology, the Valkyrie is a shieldmaiden who acts as guardian spirit of chosen warriors – and the drone of the same name is meant to protect other aircraft from the enemy. It is to accompany fighter and tanker aircraft at close range on their missions: the drone reconnoitres, engages enemy targets and also draws enemy attacks onto itself to protect the manned fighter jets. The ability of the drone to fly in formation with manned fighter jets is called “loyal wingman”; it was tested at the beginning of the year.

The XQ-58A Valkyrie comes from Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, a leading company for new weapon technologies, and was developed jointly with the Air Force Research Laboratory. It is powered by a jet engine and can fly at high subsonic speed. With a length of 8.8 metres and a wingspan of 6.7 metres, it has a range of almost 4,000 kilometres. It can release missiles, bombs and – as on the latest test flight – drones.

The small ALTIUS-600 drone was used in the trial. The acronym stands for Agile-Launched, Tactically-Integrated, Unmanned System; the word also means “higher” in Latin. Weighing at most twelve kilograms, one metre long and with a 2.5-metre wingspan, it belongs to the small unmanned aircraft (Small Unmanned Aircraft System, SUAS). According to the manufacturer Area-I, it stays airborne for up to four hours, covering 430 kilometres.

It is designed as a payload carrier that is fitted differently depending on the mission – for example with a full-motion video camera, with jammers or with explosives. Its range of tasks is just as varied: it includes intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare and use as a kamikaze, i.e. as a drone that dives onto a target and explodes.

It was also an important test flight for the ALTIUS-600. The mini drone has so far been launched from, among others, the C-130A and AC-130J transport aircraft, the HC-60 Black Hawk transport helicopter and the P-3 maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. According to Area-I’s website, besides being launched from the air and from sea, it can also be launched from the ground.

XQ-58A Valkyrie and the air war of tomorrow

Because only sparse information on the tested capability is available, there is much room for speculation. Key questions about the test procedure and the performance data obtained remain open. It is unclear, for example, how many small drones would fit into the Valkyrie’s internal bay, how Valkyrie and ALTIUS-600 interacted and how many more flight tests of this kind are to follow.

Equally interesting is what consequences the findings from all Valkyrie tests so far will have for the further development of the drones and their capabilities. In any case, XQ-58A Valkyrie and ALTIUS-600 appear to herald a new stage in the US military-technology effort.

How strongly the US Air Force intends to rely on drones as “loyal wingmen” in future to increase the striking power of its air forces is shown, for example, by the Skyborg programme. The Valkyrie was also developed within its framework; Skyborg has top priority in developing groundbreaking combat capabilities for the US Air Force.

The aim is comparatively low-cost unmanned aircraft based on artificial intelligence (AI) that can be deployed together with manned fighter jets. As already mentioned, this Valkyrie capability was tested at the beginning of the year during its fifth test.

The latest trial with the small drone, in turn, could lead towards the use of networked drone swarms acting as autonomously as possible. After all, the ALTIUS-600 is also part of the US Army’s Air-Launched Effects (ALE) programme. This targets small air-launched drones intended to perform various tasks semi-autonomously together with other manned or unmanned aircraft and helicopters.

Drone swarms and software from Anduril

The Pentagon has been researching drone swarms for years. Statements by Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril Industries, suggest that ALTIUS-600 drones could be suitable for this. In early April, Anduril acquired Area-I, developer of the ALTIUS-600, as a subsidiary; Area-I is, however, to continue operating under its own brand.

Schimpf recently said in an interview with Defense News that the capabilities of ALTIUS-600 had “blown him away”. He sees great potential, for example, in launching and flying several drones together from one platform. Together with Area-I, Anduril wants to develop ALTIUS-600 to its “technological limit” in order to use the drones in “far more complex missions” than before, Schimpf said.

Anduril’s AI-supported software “Lattice” is to be used for this. It has so far been used, for example, in AI-supported border and surveillance systems, in tracking cruise missiles and in developing counter-drones.

One indication that the USA intends to invest more in low-cost multi-role drones could be the Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) programme, from which the Valkyrie drone emerged. At an estimated two to three million euros, the Valkyrie is comparatively cheap. This would allow high-volume production and use on a larger scale – including in risky missions in which its chances of survival are low from the outset.

Despite many open questions, one thing is certain: “loyal wingmen” and drone swarms will play an important role in gaining air superiority over the battlefield in future. Not only the USA but also Russia and, above all, China are working on this with intensive research. War in the sky is changing – and this change is gradually gathering pace.