At IDEX 2025, the exhibition hosted at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi, MBDA unveiled the 1:2 mode of its new loitering munition, which will be developed in cooperation with a local partner, still unannounced. Dubbed “Diamond Shaped”, EDR On-Line understood that a name was selected for that new weapon, which will be announced once registered
The name comes from the aerodynamic architecture selected. MBDA is the system integrator and some subsystems could come from a local partner . However also the airframe comes from a third party, this being well known. The peculiar airframe is provided by Fly-R, a company specialised in UAVs based in France. The rhomboidal wing falls in the closed-wing family, and is characterized by its diamond shape and by the absence of a vertical control surface.
This configuration has several advantages, according to Fly-R, as it allows reducing wingspan by about half, reducing aerodynamic drag, and decreases the structural mass by one third. Moreover it makes the airframe capable to operate in a wide range of speed, EDR On-Line having understood that the minimum flight speed is well under 100 km/h, while in the final dive against the target the loitering munition would speed up at 270 km/h. The aerodynamic selected also ensures high manoeuvrability also in the final dive, and provides a high and quite constant lift/drag ratio.
As said at IDEX only a scaled down model was visible, the actual munition having a 1.2 metres wingspan. The front wings are hinged under the fuselage and when the munition is in the container they are swept back while rear wings that form the diamond are hinged on the upper fuselage and rotate forward for allowing the UAV to fit into the square section launch tube.
The munition is powered by an electric motor and can reach a maximum distance of 50 km, its endurance allowing for 45 minutes loitering.
The munition is launched in a generic direction and reaches its operational area; it then starts loitering looking for potential targets. Once one has been identified he clicks on it, the airframe adopting the best possible loitering path, the establishing the best angle of attack, all these operations being carried out automatically thanks to the adoption of Artificial Intelligence-based software. AI is used in automatic target recognition as well as in the navigation system and in the image-based navigation. The mission can be aborted until the last moment, the operator being able to decide to crash it on a grass compound.
The element that makes all this development worth is the warhead. The munition has a 2.5 kg payload, which includes an electro-optical gimbal, set in the nose of the airframe, ad an explosive warhead, the latter having roughly 2kg of explosive. As negotiations with the UAE partner are still undergoing no information were provided on the type of warhead, although we can assume that high-explosive fragmentation might be a solution, considering that the munition is destined to cope with soft targets and light armoured vehicles, while an antitank version may appear at a later date.
Financed with company funds, the Diamond Shaped as a system is at around TRL 5-6, while that of the airframe is more advanced, flight tests having already started. The development took two years, and the first drones just performed some test flights. The development of this weapon was simplified as some elements are taken from recent developments from French programmes. Designed for infantry the missile can also be packed in a multiple launch configuration for installation on vehicles, and can also be embarked on naval vessels to counter the threat of unmanned surface vessels. MBDA and its partners are already thinking at swarm attack profiles, here again artificial intelligence being a key element.
Considering the different models of rhomboidal wing airframes available in the Fly-R portfolio, the “diamond shaped” might well develop into a family of loitering munitions of different dimensions, that will carry the until now undisclosed name.
Photos by P. Valpolini