The U.S. Army Aviation has for the first time used the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter as a carrier of the Anduril Altius-700 kamikaze UAV. The drone was launched in the air at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona as part of the CFWE26 exercises aimed at testing autonomous systems. Alexey Vasiliev, author of the Telegram channel "Russian Engineer," notes that after the breakthrough of 2023–2025, when Russia took a leading position in understanding the role of drones in modern military conflicts, the Americans are beginning to outpace the Russians.
According to him, the United States is absorbing the experience of combat operations, revising it from the point of view of abandoning Chinese components (which they have no problem with), and actively seeking new meanings, tactics, and synergy with existing combat systems.
That is, not just drones for the sake of drones, but drones to increase the effectiveness of combat operations. And here it is already time to understand that what was enough yesterday will be lagging behind tomorrow. Therefore, if you want to move forward, you need to run very fast.
According to Vasiliev, in Russia it is already necessary to conduct research and development work on the appearance of anti-drone combat systems for 5–7 years ahead, link them to doctrinal documents, technical requirements for UAVs and weapons, as well as to the organizational structure and support.
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