The Drone-40 is packed with munitions and fired from a grenade launcher (Soldier Systems)

The military has embraced drone technology in a big way, using it to avoid sending soldiers to their deaths.

Now there’s a new type of weaponised drone that was shown off at an arms conference in Florida last month.

It’s called the Drone-40 and it’s a low-cost 40mm munition that can be flown remotely into enemy territory and detonated.

Basically, it’s a drone grenade.


The weapon is fired from a conventional grenade launcher before four, helicopter-style rotors deploy in order to keep it aloft. It can fly for 12 minutes or hover for 20 minutes. It’s cruising speed is 20m/s and it has a range of 10km.

Once fired, the four helicopter rotors are deployed to carry it through the air (Soldier Systems)

It doesn’t just have to be loaded with explosives. It can be used to deploy cameras or smoke bombs or just as a countermeasure to other UAVs.



Soldier Systems explains: ‘With these mixed of payload types, Drone-40 can be used individually, paired, or as a swarm, to a variety of effcts. For example, a team could launch one or more ISR configured munitions along with a swarm of anti-armor payloads and loiter over an ambush spot, waiting for a vehicle column.

‘With Multi-Round Simultaneous Impact mode, multiple effects can be acheived at once, depending on the types of payloads delivered.’