Uvision shows remote kamikaze drone launcher at AUSA

Israeli loitering munition maker Uvision is showing an eight-canister launcher for its HERO 120 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington, pitching the remotely operated system as a way to spread strike capacity across land and maritime platforms and tie it to the company’s AI-enabled CORTEX mission management software.

The Multi-Canister Launcher holds up to eight HERO 120 loitering munitions and is designed for remote operation, according to the company’s Oct. 13 announcement. Uvision says it can be fielded in mobile, fixed and containerized configurations, and that CORTEX, which the company describes as an AI-enabled battle intelligence and mission management system, links the launcher with sensors and decision-makers in what it calls a sensor-to-effect network.

Loitering munitions, often called kamikaze drones, can circle over an area while an operator searches for a target and then dive onto it with a warhead. The HERO 120 is a mid-range design aimed at armored vehicles and other high-value targets, combining reconnaissance and strike in one airframe with a built-in camera that lets the operator abort an attack and re-engage.

Uvision singled out border defense as one use for the multi-canister setup, with launch nodes spread across long stretches of border in mobile and fixed positions and connected through CORTEX to surveillance assets, so that a threat spotted in one sector can be answered from the nearest launcher. The company did not name any customer that has ordered the launcher or say whether it is being offered to the U.S. Army.

At the same show, Uvision is demonstrating Wayland Autonomy’s IRIS airborne surveillance payload running with Tactical CORTEX, a version of the software for forward units. The company says the pairing adds wide-area surveillance and onboard target generation, including in areas where GPS signals are jammed or unavailable.

“It’s not just about having more effects in the field. It’s about having them where you need them, when you need them, and giving forces the flexibility to use the right capability for the mission,” said Dr. Ran Gozali, CEO of Uvision.

The HERO 120 already has a foothold in the U.S. Army, and in October 2025 the service awarded Mistral Inc. and Uvision a multi-year contract worth up to $982 million under the Lethal Unmanned Systems program to buy, field, train on and sustain the weapon, with Mistral as prime contractor and Uvision as design authority. Production systems passed their first lot acceptance tests in August 2026, and the companies then received an additional order worth more than $50 million to increase the number of HERO 120 systems and support equipment going to soldiers.

The smaller HERO 90 supports the U.S. Army’s Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance effort, known as LASSO, which tests soldier-portable, tube-launched loitering munitions for infantry units. The U.S. Marine Corps fitted HERO 120 munitions on one of its Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vessels in 2023, an early example of the maritime launch role Uvision now advertises for the multi-canister launcher.

Beyond the HERO line, Uvision markets the VIPER encapsulated multi-mission systems and the PEREGRINE tactical kinetic systems, and says CORTEX is meant to manage effectors across all three families.