The US Navy has just announced the next launch of a major Prowling Munitions program with an envelope of $1 billion, without giving further details about it, particularly with regard to the type of drone selected. and the use that will be made of it.
If the second Nagorno-Karabakh war, which in 2020 opposed the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies, showed all the operational efficiency of Harop and Harpy prowl ammo of Israeli invoice to eliminate the opposing defenses, the war in Ukraine today shows its versatility, while both sides use this type of ammunition for both tactical and to hit targets in strategic depth.
It is therefore not surprising that industrial and/or national programs to develop this type of ammunition have multiplied in Europe and all over the planet for several months, as was the case in France with the Colibri and Larinae programs, aimed at hitting targets 5 and 50 km away respectively, which were announced by the DGA last March.
The potential of Prowling Ammunition has not escaped the US Navy either. Already, two years ago, the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) had placed an order for Coyote Block 3 (CB3) light prowling ammunition of Raytheon to test its effectiveness in the context of a naval deployment, but also to test the notion of a swarm strike against naval or land targets.
The 2021 contract then reached $33 million, unrelated to a new prowling ammunition program that has just been announced by the US Navy, which covers a pharaonic amount of $1 billion, i.e. the largest contract for a wandering ammunition known to date. Implemented by the Naval Sea Systems Command, this contract has appeared in the public square since last November. However, it remains very mysterious, especially since despite its amount, it will not give rise to industrial competition.
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