The Marines Want The Swiss Army Knife of Drones

The armed drone would carry the weapons of a F-35, keep pace with the V-22 Osprey.

Lockheed Martin

The U.S. Marine Corps has released a wishlist of specs for a drone that would basically act as F-35 lite, carrying all the weapons of the $120 million dollar fighter while being cheaper and unmanned. The drone would fly from airfields and the decks of amphibious ships, performing a wide variety of combat duties.

Defensetech is reporting that the Marine Corps wants a new drone named MUX, or Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System-Expeditionary. MUX’s primary mission set would include early warning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and communications relay. Secondary missions would include close air support, escorting air assaults and transporting cargo. One possible candidate for MUX, the Piasecki/Lockheed Martin ARES, is shown above.

MUX would operate at altitudes of up to 30,000 feet and have a range of 700 miles, extendable through aerial refueling. It would take off and land vertically from both ships and shore and ideally have the footprint of a Huey helicopter.

Despite MUX’s primary mission set being unarmed support duties, the Marines want their wonder drone to carry all of the weapons available to the F-35. For the air to ground mission, that includes the Hellfire anti-tank missile, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, the AGM-88E radar-killing missile, and the Small Diameter Bomb. The Marines even want MUX to be capable of carrying air-to-air weapons, including the medium-range AMRAAM and short range Sidewinder missiles.

The ability to carry such a varied suite of weapons hints at how the Marines intend to use MUX. Marine F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, at least in the early stages of a conflict, will rely on internally stored weapons to preserve their stealthy profile, hiding them from enemy radar. That limits the amount of weaponry a F-35 can carry into battle. The Corps’ emphasis on future networking capability means MUX could act as flying weapon magazines for the F-35. Pilots could direct MUX to attack aerial targets, or use them as armed bait in ambushes of enemy aircraft.

The Marines also want MUX to provide armed escort for its fleet of V-22 Ospreys tiltrotor transports. In any future amphibious operation, Ospreys will carry up to 24 combat-ready Marines deep inland to secure vital objectives, complementing a seaborne invasion and presenting the enemy with a three dimensional threat to defend against. The problem is that Ospreys can fly at 255 knots, while the Marine Corps’ new AH-1Z attack helicopters max out at 200 knots.

In counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare against enemies such as ISIS and the Taliban that difference isn’t such a big deal—the entire air assault force can just fly at the speed of the slowest aircraft. Against enemies with high end air defenses however speed is a top priority, and a 55 knot differential could mean the difference between catching the enemy by surprise or flying into an ambush.

MUX is highly ambitious project and would be the most capable tactical drone ever fielded by the U.S. Military. The question is, is a single drone expected to do everything from augment jet fighters to deliver cargo too ambitious for its own good?


Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Military Aviation