details

General Atomics says it could shrink its Vektrex howitzer-launched glide munition down to a size small enough for several of them to be packed inside the nose of a missile. The company has already put forward a more specific concept involving an AIM-174B air-to-air missile turned into a strike weapon carrying seven Vektrex-derived submunitions. Being able to load existing and future air- and surface-launched missiles with multiple gliding submunitions could open up new operational possibilities and create additional challenges for defenders.

Naval News was the first to report on the submunition-laden AIM-174B concept after seeing a rendering, seen below, on display at General Atomics’ booth at the Euronaval 2026 exhibition in Paris, France, last week. General Atomics’ Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) division has now provided additional information directly to TWZ.

“We’re exploring a concept for deploying Vektrex-derived maneuvering submunitions from air- and ground-launched missiles to address emerging needs for extended-range precision fires,” Mike Rucker, Vice President of GA-EMS Weapons Programs, told us in a statement. “Our investments in advanced weapons, precision machining, automation and assembly provide a manufacturing foundation to support production as designs qualify and customers commit.”

To take a step back, General Atomics first unveiled Vektrex in 2023, at which time it was called the Long Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP). It is an unpowered precision-guided munition with pop-out wings that deploy after launch. Development to date, which has been conducted with support from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, has been focused first on a version of Vektrex that can be fired from standard 155mm howitzers. A concept for a configuration that can be launched via 5-inch naval guns has also been shown.

Vektrex – The Next King of Battle

General Atomics has previously described Vektrex as having “advanced redundant guidance systems” that enable it to hit static or moving targets. The navigation system allows for multiple types of approaches to the target area. In the terminal phase, it can execute a steep dive onto a fixed set of coordinates or follow a differently shaped flight path to that impact point, if desired. It can also switch over to an onboard seeker to find mobile targets. Indirect approach vectors and maneuvering in the latter stages of flight can also improve survivability.

“The underlying artillery application provides the technical starting point [for the submunition concept],” General Atomics’ Rucker told us. “Deployable wings enable aerodynamic glide that multiplies Vektrex’s reach two to three times beyond conventional rounds. Its capabilities include resilient navigation in GPS-degraded or denied environments.”

General Atomics has previously projected the maximum range of a Vektrex round fired from a 155mm howitzer with a 39-caliber barrel to be in excess of 74.5 miles (120 kilometers). The munition’s reach extends further, to more than 124 miles (200), when launched from a longer 52-caliber 155mm howitzer. As a point of comparison, the maximum range of existing U.S. Army 39-caliber 155mm howitzers is generally pegged at around 19 miles when firing unguided rocket-assisted rounds and 25 miles when employing GPS-assisted M982 Excalibur precision-guided shells.

“The missile-carried submunition concept envisions a larger missile carrying and releasing multiple Vektrex-derived maneuvering projectiles,” according to Rucker. “The concept expands the potential delivery options for maneuvering precision payloads, giving prospective customers a concrete configuration to evaluate against their requirements for range, payload, platform compatibility and affordability. Those requirements would guide how we advance the concept.”

“For artillery users, the modernization opportunity is to extend capability while building on existing launcher and support infrastructure. The missile-carried concept explores a different application of that technology,” he added. “While much of the core technology is applicable, this configuration would require additional engineering and validation.”

As noted, General Atomics has already presented one potential pairing in the form of the AIM-174B loaded with seven submunitions. The U.S. Navy officially unveiled the AIM-174B, also known as the Gunslinger, in 2024. It is an air-launched version of the surface-launched Standard Missile-6 (SM-6). The SM-6 is a multi-purpose weapon able to engage a variety of aerial targets, including ballistic missiles and even certain hypersonic threats in the terminal phases of their flight. It can also be employed in a surface-to-surface mode.

The Navy currently describes the AIM-174B as purely an air-to-air missile. However, TWZ has previously highlighted the potential for the Gunslinger to be employed in the air-to-surface mode, especially given its lineage from the SM-6. A version loaded with gliding submunitions could open new options for engaging multiple targets across a broader area, and doing so at extended ranges, just by launching a single missile.

The reach of this particular pairing could be particularly impressive given the surface-launched SM-6’s stated range of well over 200 miles. Unlike the SM-6, which uses a rocket booster for initial launch, the AIM-174 benefits from the altitude and speed of the aircraft firing it. Though not confirmed, Gunslinger’s maximum range by itself can be reasonably understood to be in the hundreds of miles. Vektrex-derived submunitions could easily add dozens of miles of additional range, at least, from their release point.

A version of the AIM-174B in this configuration would enable strikes on targets deeper inside hostile territory while also helping to keep launch platforms away from enemy air defenses. A single missile could also target multiple ships within a surface action group hundreds of miles away. In any scenario, it would also expand the total number of targets a single aircraft could engage on a single sortie.

The full General Atomics rendering showing the submunition-toting Gunslinger also shows it being launched from a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrying another one of these missiles. As such, the jet’s loadout would include 14 gliding submunitions on just two stations. A Super Hornet could carry up to four of these missiles, or a total of 28 submunitions. In this case, the fighter is also depicted carrying two Bullseye cruise missiles, two AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and two AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Bullseye is a cooperative development between General Atomics and Israeli defense contractor Rafael.

This is also just one potential combination. Vektrex-derived submunitions capable of being released from an AIM-174B could also be loaded into surface-launched SM-6s. Just within the U.S. military today, there are multiple options for firing SM-6s from ships, as well as from launchers on land.

Based on the AIM-174B concept that has been presented now, there are certainly other suitably large missiles in existence today that could carry various numbers of Vektrex-derived submunitions. The U.S. Army notably has plans already for a future version of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile loaded with “enhanced” payloads, which could include precision-guided submunitions and/or drones.

Depending on the cost of the submunitions, General Atomics’ Vektrex-based submunition concept could also offer broader magazine depth and supply chain benefits. The 155mm-howitzer-launched Vektrex is already being designed with an eye toward affordability and producibility.

“Our focus is developing capabilities that help U.S., allied and partner forces extend precision fires, maintain effectiveness when navigation is disrupted, and obtain munitions in the quantities they need,” GA-EMS’ Rucker told us. “Vektrex is one way we are addressing those needs through improvements at the munition level.”

It should also be noted here that, in general, the safe release of submunitions from any missile, especially one traveling at very high speeds, can present technical challenges. The payloads are subjected to physical and thermal stresses in the process, which seekers and other systems within also have to withstand. The core Vektrex design does have the benefit of being designed from the outset to be shot from a howitzer, which imparts its own stresses on the projectile. A missile with a Vektrex-derived payload could also perform maneuvers to bleed off energy before release, too.

All this being said, General Atomics has stressed that the idea of Vektrex-derived submunitions loaded into AIM-174Bs or any other missile is still very much in the conceptual stage.

“We are exploring the air-launched submunition concept internally, and it does not currently have a sponsoring customer,” GA-EMS’ Rucker told us. “Our near-term focus is advancing Vektrex’s 155 mm application toward customer procurement, while evaluating additional applications against prospective customers’ operational requirements.”

“That development effort is supported by established manufacturing investments,” he added. “As we announced in June, our Mississippi operations include automated precision machining cells tailored to Vektrex components, together with robotics, assembly and systems integration capabilities supporting advanced weapons programs.”

At the same time, General Atomics is clearly already looking to the future for Vektrex, which could go well beyond the core gun-launched variation.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Need to know

Rachel was on holiday with her husband when everything went terribly wrong

A 42-year-old Brit mum died suddenly in Spain while on holiday – what you need to know

• A British mum collapsed and died on holiday in Spain despite the best efforts of paramedics to save her life.
• Rachel Weston, 42, from Bury, Greater Manchester, had been to see a pharmacist about what she thought was just a cold, but her condition later worsened significantly – and she suddenly collapsed in her hotel room in Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
• Local reports said she suffered a cardiac arrest, although no underlying cause has been confirmed. Hotel staff and paramedics tried to save her but tragically she couldn’t be saved.
• Her husband, Mark, said: “My world was completely turned upside down with the sudden and heartbreaking loss of my gorgeous wife, Rachel.” Rachel was a loving stepmum to his three children and he described her as “the absolute heart of our home”.
• Mark has launched a fundraiser to help cover funeral costs and has asked mourners to wear purple, Rachel’s favourite colour, at her funeral on November 6.

READ THE FULL STORY: ‘My gorgeous wife died suddenly in Lanzarote – it’s heartbreaking’

Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.

The leak includes names, work addresses and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work they do for each agency.

Wednesday’s leak marks the third time in recent weeks that a government agency has been targeted by leaks or hacks.

A DHS spokesperson said the agency is “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively.”

“We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected,” the spokesperson added.

“We will update the public when more information is available.”

The seemingly unprecedented breach of employee information was made public online. A group called the Department of Peace accessed the information from DHS, while journalist and cybersecurity researcher maia crimew alongside the website Distributed Denial of Secrets put it online.

The information was put in a database named Icepick.

Most of the agents included, more than 21,000 of them, work for CBP, according to the data. Nearly 6,600 work for ICE.

Other records show agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and even people working for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The leaked information also included dozens of previously unknown operation names, the agents that led and worked on those operations, and some of the technology they used in their work, including tech provided by Cellbrite and Palantir.

The groups wrote in an online statement that the the leak was not meant to be a directory of every DHS agent. Rather the aim was to replace “anonymity with accountability”, according to Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets.

“The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in it’s simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government’s hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation – along with key personnel in DHS’s ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs,” Best added.

BlueLeaks refers to a massive leak of US police data in 2020, data from which DDoSecrets also hosted.

A spokesperson for the Department of Peace pointed directly at actions by ICE agents for the groups work to hack DHS records.

“On July 17th, Markwayne Mullin said he was ‘turning up the heat’. This is what happens to ICE when you do that,” the spokesperson wrote on Wednesday.

Mullin in March became Secretary of Homeland Security.

The Department of Peace said it accessed the DHS agent profiles through a single sign-on service called Okta.

Okta is a popular online security tool that organisations use to ensure that only people with access to internal platforms are logging on to them.

A spokeswoman for Okta said the company is aware of the claims being made, but said: “Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised.”

Last month, the FBI was hacked by a group called ShinyHunters, which took personal information about thousands of agents.

In recent days, the Federal Election Commission, which makes public political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of a suspected hacking attempt.

Public backlash to US immigration enforcement has been building as the Trump Administration has pushed a huge increase in arrests and deportations of people suspected of being in the country illegally.

Immigration operations this year have repeatedly turned violent, external, with ICE agents shooting at more than two dozen people and killing at least nine people.

Those killings include the high profile deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were shot and killed by ICE agents this year in Minnesota, despite not being the targets of arrests.

Often, ICE agents carry out enforcement actions while their faces are covered by masks and sunglasses. Immigration agents rarely identify themselves, despite being required by law to do so, and US politicians have publicly demanded, external DHS enforces the requirement.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, the US has enacted nearly 1 million deportations, external, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute. More than 70% of the deportations have been of people with no criminal record.

SACRAMENTO — He made millions playing an indestructible action hero in the movies, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded altogether mortal as he talked for the first time Wednesday about the pain and frustration he has felt since his holiday skiing accident.

At a news conference where he released his new budget, Schwarzenegger told reporters that since his surgery two weeks ago he has been in continuous pain.

“The operation was a very complicated operation,” he said, “and I don’t think I can ever remember having had pain — ongoing pain, 24 hours a day — like after this operation.”

In a statement put out last month after the Dec. 23 accident, the governor’s doctor described the surgery planned for Schwarzenegger as routine.

Schwarzenegger had previously said nothing publicly about his accident, and his staff had refused to confirm reports that the governor tripped and fell while standing on a mountain slope in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Adi Erber, a ski instructor who was with the governor at the time, said Schwarzenegger’s pole got caught in one of his skis, causing the fall. Schwarzenegger was then carried down the slope on a toboggan and taken to a hospital.

Asked for his own account of how the accident happened, Schwarzenegger offered a few details about his complicated medical history, which has included steroid use, a heart valve replacement, a torn rotator cuff and broken ribs. He said that he has also had an artificial hip put in — a procedure that, he maintained, helped cause the leg break.

Schwarzenegger said that because he was moving “at a very slow speed,” his ski stayed on.

Had he been moving fast, he said, the ski would have popped off, probably sparing him any real injury.

“I had an artificial hip that was replaced around five years ago,” he said. “Because it was vulnerable, the ski torqued the leg, and it broke the femur because of that. If I were to have that accident at 50 mph — and many times I’ve crashed at that speed — nothing happens.

“So this is what the unfortunate thing was.”

Soon after the injury, speculation bubbled up that the governor’s steroid use might have left his bones weakened, making him more susceptible to a break. Schwarzenegger has admitted using steroids when he was a champion bodybuilder.

The governor’s office released a statement from his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Ehrhart, addressing the steroid question.

“Any suggestion that Gov. Schwarzenegger’s injury was sustained as a result of anabolic steroid use is wrong and has no basis in fact,” Ehrhart said. “His bone was completely healthy and rock solid.”

Normally upbeat in his public appearances, Schwarzenegger said the accident has left him shaken. He has looked thinner and somewhat drawn since the surgery.

At his inauguration last week, First Lady Maria Shriver clutched the governor’s arm as he took the oath of office — as if holding him up — and handed him bottled water afterward. Shriver also attended the governor’s budget address.

Schwarzenegger suggested Shriver has been at the receiving end of his darkened mood.

“So it’s really annoying to me, and believe me, there’s nothing I hate more than having an obstacle like this. So this is very frustrating to me. It’s very tough on my wife.

“When I get frustrated and have those obstacles, I’m very angry a lot of times,” he said, “and so I’m working through all of this and trying to get rid of this problem as soon as I can.”

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

Airbus U.S. Space and Defense has been actively developing and iterating the technology for its Lakota Connector, an uncrewed, autonomous variant of the multi-mission UH-72B Lakota helicopter. This includes testing under Team Lakota Connector, that has brought together Shield AI, L3Harris Technologies, and Parry Labs in a prototyping phase for the U.S. Marine Corps.

TWZ’s Jamie Hunter spoke with Carl Forsling from Airbus U.S., at the AUSA 2026 trade event in Washington D.C. A former U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight and MV-22 Osprey pilot, Forsling explained the requirement for uncrewed logistics in contested theaters, and what’s next for Team Lakota Connector.

Airbus Talks Progress With Lakota Connector Cargo Drone