Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons

INDO-PACOM Used Ground-based Aegis Combat System Prototype to Target Missile Threats, Surface Targets

Overview of Valiant Shield 2020 experiment that paired a ground-based Aegis combat system with Army units. Lockheed Martin Image

Last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command quietly packed the combat system from a guided-missile destroyer into about the size of a footlocker, took it ashore and hooked it up to an Army artillery unit, an Air Force command node and an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter.

Last September, INDO-PACOM used the Virtualized Aegis Weapon System (VAWS) in an experiment to see if...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/29/indo-pacom-used-ground-based-aegis-combat-system-prototype-to-target-missile-threats-surface-targets

Marines Placing Small UAVs into Ground Combat Element, As Aviators Still Refining Large UAS Requirement

U.S. Marines with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 launch a RQ-21A Blackjack for Assault Support Tactics 2 at Canon Air Defense Complex (P111), Yuma, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2016. US Marine Corps photo.

While the Marine Corps is still charting its path forward for large drones, the service is moving smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into its ground combat units.

Speaking over the weekend at a panel during the Tailhook Association’s virtual symposium, Deputy Commandant of the Marine...

https://news.usni.org/2020/09/15/marines-placing-small-uavs-into-ground-combat-element-as-aviators-still-refining-large-uas-requirement