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General Atomics’ Gambit family of drones, with its common modular core ‘chassis’ concept, now has a sixth member optimized for air-to-surface missions, such as attacking hostile air defenses or enemy ships. The company is already eyeing international sales of the new Gambit 6, particularly in Europe, but it could also be of interest to branches of the U.S. military. The latest Gambit configuration underscores the growing pursuit of loyal wingman-type drones, also now often referred to as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), by armed forces globally.

Gambit 6 made its official debut yesterday at the annual International Fighter Conference in Rome, Italy. General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. division (GA-ASI) first unveiled the Gambit family back in 2022, at which time it included four designs. They were joined last year by Gambit 5, which is intended for carrier-based operations.

“The Gambit Series is a modular family of unmanned aircraft designed to meet diverse mission requirements, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; multi-domain combat; advanced training; and stealth reconnaissance,” according to a press release from GA-ASI. “It’s built around a common core platform that accounts for a significant proportion of the aircraft’s hardware, including the landing gear, baseline avionics, and chassis. This shared foundation reduces costs, increases interoperability, and accelerates the development of mission-specific variants like Gambit 6.”

“The multi-role [Gambit 6] platform is optimized for roles such as electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), and deep precision strike, making it a versatile option for evolving defense needs,” the release adds.

An accompanying rendering, seen in part at the top of this story and below, shows a trio of Gambit 6s. Each one is depicted releasing several GBU-53/B StormBreaker precision-guided bombs, also known as Small Diameter Bomb IIs (SDB II).

The Gambit 6 design looks similar, at least externally, to General Atomics’ YFQ-42A. The YFQ-42A is one of two uncrewed aircraft currently under development as part of the first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air Force’s CCA program. The other is Anduril’s YFQ-44A, also known as Fury. General Atomics has previously confirmed that the YFQ-42A leverages prior work on an experimental drone called the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, which flew for the first time last year, and the Gambit family. The YFQ-42A made its maiden flight earlier this year, and a second example is now in flight testing.

General Atomics is also now among the companies under contract to develop conceptual CCA designs for the U.S. Navy.

“It’s best to think of Gambit 1 as optimized for advanced sensing, and represented by our XQ-67A OBSS [Off-Board Sensing Station] flying today,” C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told TWZ. “Gambit 2 is optimized for air-to-air combat and represented by our YFQ-42A, which has multiple airframes currently flying. Loaded with the proper weapons, a Gambit 2 could conduct a ground or surface strike as a multirole aircraft, but it is not optimized for that ground mission.”

“The Gambit series, including YFQ-42A, can be equipped with EW [electronic warfare] suites or EW-capable launched effects [uncrewed aerial systems],” Brinkely added.

The Gambit 3 design is primarily intended to act as a ‘red air’ adversary during training. The flying wing Gambit 4, so far the most visually distinctive member of the family, is focused on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. As noted, Gambit 5 is designed for carrier-based combat operations.

“Gambit 6 will be truly optimized for air-to-ground/surface operations. It might visually look like a Gambit 2, and perhaps the differences would be imperceptible to the casual viewer, as both would utilize RF [radiofrequency] and optical sensing,” Brinkley added. “But the mission systems inside Gambit 6 are fine-tuned specifically for ground/surface operations, missions in which General Atomics has developed deep experience over decades of ground/surface sensing and strikes. Gambit 6 could also be outfitted for an electronic warfare mission, for instance, or even naval strikes.”

Overall, “the idea is that Gambit 6 will be primarily looking down.”

Just like an air-to-air combat optimized CCA-type drone, an air-to-surface focused design would help friendly forces expand their coverage and capacity to perform relevant missions over one or more areas of the battlespace, while also reducing the risk to crewed platforms. As described, Gambit 6s seems geared to be particularly well-suited to the suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses mission sets, or SEAD/DEAD, to aid in clearing the way for follow-on operations.

The idea of CCA-type drones taking on these ‘downward-focused’ missions is not new. Though the U.S. Air Force’s CCA program is currently focused on air-to-air missions, the service has expressed interest in future air-to-surface strike and electronic warfare capabilities. Previous U.S. Marine Corps testing of Kratos’ XQ-58 Valkyrie has put particular emphasis on the ability to launch electronic warfare attacks as part of SEAD/DEAD missions conducted together with F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Earlier this year, the Marines confirmed that experimental work with the XQ-58 was transitioning into a full program of record with a clear eye toward a real operational capability. Air-to-surface missions are also a component of other CCA-type programs globally.

“Air forces throughout the world are looking to air-to-ground-capable CCAs to enhance operational capabilities and address emerging threats in a denied environment,” the General Atomics press release says. “Airframes will be available for international procurement starting in 2027, with European missionized versions deliverable in 2029. GA-ASI is building industry partnerships throughout Europe with the aim of providing sovereign capabilities for all its platforms.”

It has been pointed out that the schedule stated aligns particularly well with a German requirement for a CCA-type drone capable of air-to-surface missions. Last year, Airbus also unveiled a loyal wingman drone with a clear eye toward meeting German Air Force needs. Airbus and Kratos also announced a partnership earlier this year to supply a version of the XQ-58 to the Germans.

General Atomics has made clear that it is looking at multiple potential foreign sales opportunities with Gambit 6.

“Many international allies and partners have expressed interest in a CCA optimized for ground or surface strike. Gambit 6 was announced here in Rome on the first day of the International Fighter Conference, and the resulting interest and inquiry from attending military representatives has been great,” Brinkley, the General Atomics spokesperson, also told TWZ. “We look forward to continuing those discussions here this week. We absolutely intend to submit Gambit 6 for various emerging international opportunities.”

“Nothing would prevent the United States from procuring a Gambit 6 variant, fine tuned to American specifications,” he added.

“I don’t have any additional details to offer on Gambit 5 or the US Navy opportunity. We’ve been talking about the Gambit 5 concept for about 16 months at this point, since Farnborough 2024,” Brinkley also said when asked for a general update on the work the company is doing in relation to the Navy’s CCA effort. “There is no specific relationship between Gambit 5 & Gambit 6 at this time. The point of the Gambit Series is to quickly deliver affordable mass at scale, and to adjust to customer demands rapidly, and each of these aircraft does that, while also leveraging years of hard work and demonstrated success. “

As has been made clear in this story already, the market space for CCA-type drones has been steadily growing in recent years, and extends well beyond General Atomics. Just since September, Lockheed Martin’s Vectis and Shield AI’s X-BAT have joined the growing field of relevant designs. The jet-powered X-BAT is a particularly novel design, intended to take off and land vertically, as you can learn more about in great detail in this recent TWZ feature. In addition to the Gambit family, Vectis, X-BAT, and Anduril’s Fury, among other drone designs, are also being showcased at the International Fighter Conference this week. Also on the market now is Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, originally developed for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Aviation Week just recently disclosed the existence of a new drone design from Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites, referred to now simply as Project Lotus, which could be in the broad CCA category, as well.

The U.S. Coast Guard is in line to get a new version of the H-60 helicopter based on the MH-60R Seahawk, which is in service with the U.S. Navy and other armed forces globally. The additional helicopters will supplement, at least initially, the Coast Guard’s aging MH-60T Jayhawks. The Coast Guard also plans to boost its overall capabilities by replacing its fleet of smaller MH-65s with H-60 variants.

Earlier this week, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) put out a contracting notice announcing its intent to award Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems a sole-source deal to design and produce an unspecified number of “MH-60R variant aircraft for the United States Coast Guard.” Lockheed Martin is the current parent company of Sikorsky, which is the prime contractor for the H-60 family of helicopters. The Navy and the Coast Guard, the latter of which is a uniformed military service that falls under the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of War, have a long history of cooperation on helicopter-related efforts, as well as other programs.

“The Coast Guard anticipates new aircraft procurements may be based off Sikorsky’s MH-60R aircraft, which is the maritime variant of the H-60 in active production,” the service told TWZ when reached for more information. “Differences between the MH-60T and in-production MH-60R will be addressed with Sikorsky to ensure Coast Guard aircraft are delivered with the appropriate capabilities for Coast Guard missions.”

In September, the Coast Guard had announced contracting actions intended in part to help accelerate the delivery of “new MH-60 medium-range recovery helicopters.” At that time, the service made no mention of plans to acquire a new version based on the R model.

The Coast Guard currently has some 45 MH-60Ts in inventory, which are stationed at bases around the United States. The Coast Guard also has a number of cutters, including its newest and most capable Legend class types, that can support helicopter operations.

The Jayhawks are utilized for search and rescue, as well as various law enforcement and homeland security tasks, including counter-narcotics interdiction missions. In the latter role, the helicopters can be fitted with an Airborne Use of Force (AUF) package that includes a mounted 7.62x51mm M240 machine gun, stowage for precision rifles that can be fired from the main cabin door, add-on armor protection, and additional onboard communications systems.

The bulk of the Coast Guard’s current fleet of MH-60Ts helicopters started their service lives in the early 1990s as HH-60Js, and were later upgraded to the T configuration starting in the late 2000s. The upgrades include a new glass cockpit, as well as improvements to the helicopter’s sensor suite and other capabilities. Sikorsky had developed the original HH-60J design in parallel with the HH-60H combat search and rescue helicopter for the Navy. The Coast Guard subsequently acquired a small number of additional T variants converted from second-hand SH-60 Seahawk variants.

The MH-60R is designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and general sea control missions, and replaced various SH-60 variants when it first began entering Navy service in the mid-2000s. The Navy replaced its HH-60Hs, which were also heavily used to support U.S. special operations forces, as well as its tandem-rotor CH-46 Sea Knights, with a separate Seahawk variant, the MH-60S.

The full extent of changes that may have to be made to the MH-60R to meet Coast Guard needs, and whether the resulting configuration may receive a new designation, is unclear. The baseline R model is packed full of anti-submarine warfare and other mission systems that the Coast Guard will not need. It does have some elements that would likely be carried over directly, such as its external winch, a key feature for performing the search and rescue mission.

Certain Coast Guard-specific requirements could require more significant changes to the core MH-60R configuration. For instance, existing MH-60Ts have weather radars fitted to their noses, something that standard R variants lack. Coast Guard Jayhawks are often called upon to fly in bad weather and otherwise demanding conditions, as can be seen in the videos below.

U.S Coast Guard HH-60 almost crashes into the sea after being hit by bad weather while evacuating a passenger onboard a cruiseliner.

📹 Damion Bailey pic.twitter.com/HXjWWMDJD7

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 2, 2023

Interestingly, one of the Navy’s MH-60Rs was embarked on the Coast Guard Legend-class National Security cutter Midgett during the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise in 2022. That was the first time an MH-60R had been embarked on any Coast Guard vessel, and underscored the often-overlooked role the service plays in missions well beyond the shores of the United States. The Navy and the Coast Guard have been working to more deeply integrate their activities overseas in recent years, especially as part of larger efforts to challenge China in the Indo-Pacific region.

The new H-60s, whatever their exact configuration might be, are part of a larger Coast Guard effort to modernize and transform its helicopter fleets that has already ongoing for years now. The service’s existing MH-60T fleet is being put through a service life extension program (SLEP), which is intended to keep them flying into the 2040s. As part of the current SLEP effort, MH-60Ts are receiving a completely new central fuselage ‘hull.’ The Coast Guard had previously used hulls taken from retired Seahawks with lower total flight hours to help extend the life of its T variants.

The Coast Guard has said in the past that it also plans to “organically produce” 36 additional T variants from second-hand Seahawks, though the current status of that effort is unclear.

“As part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s service life extension program (SLEP), we continue to build replacement MH-60T Jayhawk hulls at our Troy, Alabama, facility,” Lockheed Martin told TWZ in response to questions about how the plans to acquire new MH-60R-based variants might impact the SLEP work and other work it is doing for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard also currently plans to retire all of its remaining MH-65 helicopters and replace them with H-60 variants, a process it expects to be complete by the early 2040s. The service currently has some 94 MH-65s, which are variants of the French-made AS365 Dauphin. Originally developed in the 1970s by Aerospatiale, the design subsequently came under the umbrella of Eurocopter and then Airbus Helicopters. The AS365 line is no longer in production, with the last example having been delivered in 2021.

The Coast Guard has argued that transitioning to a pure H-60 fleet will offer more capability and the benefits of a still-in-production design, but has faced some pushback from Congress. In January of this year, Airbus Helicopters announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Coast Guard for continued support for the MH-65s at least through 2037.

New Coast Guard H-60s based on the R variant would also be able to leverage the Navy’s existing logistics and sustainment ecosystem for those helicopters. The Navy expects to keep flying its MH-60Rs well into the 2030s, at least.

How exactly the Coast Guard ultimately proceeds with its larger helicopter modernization efforts remains to be seen, but those plans now include a new service-specific version of the H-60.

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Ukraine has unveiled a new version of its Neptune cruise missile, which appears to have added fuel tank ‘bulges’ for increased range. The missile looks to be distinct from the extended-range Long Neptune derivative, imagery of which first emerged earlier this year. Originally designed as an anti-ship weapon, the Neptune family has now become a key means for Ukraine to launch strikes at targets on land inside Russian territory.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s defense minister, shared a picture of the new Neptune variant, seen at the top of this story, on social media today in relation to a recent visit by Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene and other Western dignitaries. Other domestically developed weapon systems that Ukrainian authorities have showcased before, including the Peklo ‘missile drone’ and a Magura-7 uncrewed surface vessel (USV) armed with R-73 anti-air missiles, were also put on display for the delegation.

The baseline Neptune, also designated the R-360, is primarily an anti-ship weapon, but has a basic secondary land attack capability. It is itself derived from the Soviet-era Kh-35, variants of which remain in service in Russia and elsewhere globally. Current production Neptunes can be readily distinguished from Kh-35s by the shape of their main fins, which have a distinctive stepped or ‘cranked’ sweep to them. The missile, which is powered by a small turbofan jet engine, has a stated maximum range of 190 miles (300 kilometers), according to the developer, the Luch Design Bureau.

Since 2023, Ukraine has also been employing a land-attack optimized version, which reportedly has a guidance package that combines a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) and an imaging infrared sensor in place of the original active radar seeker. A Ukrainian defense official previously told TWZ that this variant has a range of at least 225 miles (360 kilometers). There is also the Long Neptune, which we will come back to later on.

The new Neptune variant shown to Prime Minister Ruginiene and the other Western officials has two prominent bulges on either side of the forward body immediately in front of the main fins. Though their purpose is currently unknown, additional fuel tanks are the likely explanation. Adding more fuel would be a relatively straightforward way to extend the missile’s reach without dramatically changing its design. It could also help maintain the weapon’s existing range following the addition of a heavier payload, such as a new warhead, although this is less likely based on what we know about the Neptune design. It is possible that fuel was added here to makeup for a larger warhead, but again, this is the less likely of the two options.

It’s possible the fairings could contain something else, but nothing logical comes to mind. Based on what is known of the Kh-35’s internal layout, this portion of the Neptune’s body should otherwise house elements of its navigation system and avionics. The missile’s warhead should be directly in front of that section, with the main seeker then in the nose.

As noted, the missile does not appear to be the Long Neptune derivative, also known as the RK-360L, which has a reported maximum range of 621 miles (1,000 kilometers). Ukrainian authorities released an image of that missile in August, which shows that it is externally very distinct from earlier Neptunes, as well as the new variant that has now been revealed. The Long Neptune is longer overall and has a wider main body, with the tail and nose sections having tapered profiles as a result. The main fins are also bigger and have a straight sweep.

Extending the reach of the baseline Neptune would offer a new tier of capability between the original missile and the RK-360L, allowing for the latter to be reserved for strikes that make use of their full range. An extended-range variant of the R-360 might also be cheaper and/or easier to produce than the Long Neptunes, or even something that could be created by converting existing missiles.

It’s also worth noting here that increasing the reach of the baseline Neptune could be relevant to expanding Ukraine’s ability to target Russian ships at sea, as well as strikes on land targets.

Existing versions of Neptune have also proven to be especially key weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal for conducting strikes on targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s Navy claims to have successfully struck more than 50 Russian targets with Neptune-series cruise missiles in the past year, according to an interview with the service’s spokesperson, Dmytro Pletenchuk, which Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia published just today.

The expanding Neptune family also reflects a broader push by Ukrainian authorities to step up domestic arms production. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal is for 50 percent of all munitions being used on the front lines to be manufactured within the country by the end of the year. Foreign partnerships are part of the plan to achieve this, according to Zelenskyy. It is possible that the ongoing development of the Neptune family, as well as the production of those missiles, may already be benefiting from collaboration with allies and partners.

When it comes to stand-off strike capabilities capable of hitting targets deeper inside Russia, Ukraine’s current arsenal includes air-launched Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG cruise missiles provided by the United Kingdom and France, respectively, as well as ground-based Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles from the United States.