German drone maker unveils armed version of its Reliant spy drone

Quantum-Systems has unveiled an armed version of its Reliant long-range drone, showing the aircraft fitted with a mixed load of 82 mm mortar rounds and 40 mm grenades.

Dave Sharpin, chief executive of Quantum-Systems Inc., the U.S. arm of the German drone maker, shared images of the configuration on social media on Oct. 28, thanking partners from Orbital for their work on the project. The photos show the munitions carried on the drone’s wing hardpoints, combining two calibers on a single aircraft.

Each caliber gives the drone a different kind of strike: the 82 mm round, the standard size for medium mortars in many armies, carries a heavier explosive charge suited to larger targets, while the 40 mm grenade, the size fired by infantry grenade launchers, is smaller and lighter, so several can be carried and released one at a time against individual targets. Mixing the two lets an operator choose the right weapon for each target found during the same flight.

Reliant is a fixed-wing drone that takes off and lands vertically, so it can launch from a small clearing or a ship deck and then cruise like an airplane without a runway. Quantum-Systems introduced it at SOF Week in Tampa in May 2024 as a Group 2 aircraft with a 3.9 m (12.8-foot) wingspan and more than 10 hours of endurance from a hybrid-electric power system, and in July 2026 it announced an upgraded version with greater payload capacity, a maximum takeoff weight of 45 kg (99 pounds) and integration into the company’s MOSAIC UXS software, which lets operators control several types of unmanned systems together.

The armed configuration grows out of a version Quantum-Systems developed for U.S. customers, with hardpoints on each wing that can carry additional modules and release munitions or smaller drones. The company has also presented Reliant as a carrier for the Archer first-person-view attack drone built by U.S. manufacturer Neros, whose Archer the Pentagon has ordered in large numbers and which the U.S. Marine Corps recently flew with live warheads in Japan.

Reliant sits at the top of Quantum-Systems’ family of aircraft, above the short-range Twister and the mid-range Vector, the reconnaissance drone that made the company’s name in Ukraine. Sharpin has said Vector has flown more than 20,000 combat hours in Ukraine, and the company has fed that experience back into its designs, including after a Vector returned from a mission despite being hit 11 times by small arms fire. Quantum-Systems has also expanded production inside Ukraine, where it now builds Vector fuselages locally.

Quantum-Systems has offered Reliant to the German military as well as to U.S. buyers, and the armed version adds a strike option to an aircraft the company has so far marketed for long-range reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.