Airbus presents European drone equipped with missiles for air defence

Airbus unveiled the new European dronebased on a small aircraft without a pilot used for training over 20 years ago. LOAD (Low-Cost Air Defence) is the new “drone anti-drone” designed to tackle one of the key challenges of modern air defence: reduce interception costs by low-priced drones with traditional high-cost systems.

The drone design was announced on 26 March during a trade fair dedicated to unmanned systems in Bonn, Germany. The design is based on the Do-DT25a platform developed in the early 2000s and used as a aerial target for shooting practice. For this very reason, it was designed to be “cheap and expendable“.

Reusable and armed with guided missiles

The new military UAV anti-drone drone developed by Airbus will be able to carry up to three guided missileswith a operating radius of 100 km. The launch will take place via catapultand at the end of the mission the aircraft will return to base landing by parachuteready for a new operation.

A prototype with two missiles should fly by the end of the yearwhile the final version is expected for 2027.

Although no specific technical details were provided for LOAD, the Do-DT25 on which it is based has a length of 3.1 metres, a'wingspan of 2.5 metres, can reach a maximum speed of 300 knots (approx. 555 km/h) and stay in the air for about one hour.

Assisted autonomy and anti-drone capability

According to Airbus promotional material, LOAD will be positioned somewhere between a stray munition and an aerial combat drone. It will be controlled from a ground control station and will be able to co-ordinate with other drones using radar data and airspace imageryfor search for, detect and - subject to authorisation - autonomously engage enemy kamikaze drones.

Doubts about autonomy, but concrete progress

In recent yearsseveral experts have expressed concerns about the increasing use of autonomy in weapon systemsraising doubts about the actual effectiveness of the guarantees of maintaining human control in attack decisionsas stated by Airbus in the case of LOAD.

Le autonomous capabilities promise for this drone seems to derive from the experience gained with the Do-DT25. Already in the March 2023Airbus had successfully demonstrated the autonomous driving and control more drones DT-25managed by a A310 MRTT tanker aircraft. The experiment showed significant progress in the relative navigationin the in-flight communication and in the cooperative control algorithms.

Integration with Eurodrone and technological independence

As a next step, Airbus plans to integrating LOAD with other unmanned aerial platformssuch as theEurodronemaking it operational also in areas not covered by ground defence radar.

Consistent with the European objective of reduce dependence on the United StatesAirbus emphasised that the new drone does not contain US technology, resulting exempt from ITAR regulations (International Traffic in Arms Regulations). This will allow the export of the system without constraints imposed by Washingtonleaving the decisions exclusively to European user nations.

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/03/26/airbus-announces-missile-slinging-drone-for-air-defense/