DGA and MBDA have signed a deal for the development and production of the One-Way Effector turbojet-powered kamikaze UAV as a low-cost saturation weapon.
One-Way Effector long-range kamikaze UAV, which was brought up by MBDA after the observations on the war in Ukraine, is going forward towards introduction with the recent deal signed between France’s military acquisition authority DGA and MBDA.
The kamikaze UAV draws a very similar profile to the Geran series of long-range kamikaze UAVs (More specifically, Geran-3) used by Russia for saturation attacks in the war, with some streamlining. This is no coincidence as the layout promotes simplicity and ease of production.
The mindset behind One Way Effector is not so different from the Geran family, which is saturating the enemy with a swarm of cheap kamikaze UAVs that travel at high speed and carry a significant payload. Unlike the sophisticated loitering munition equipped with more advanced flight control and capable sensors, this concept of a kamikaze UAV approaches the realm of cruise missiles even though it falls behind in performance and survivability (Which are secondary in terms of priority as one could expect).
Alongside One Way Effector, CROSSBOW is in development as a cruise missile that is comparable to higher-end examples like SCALP EG in terms of range and payload, but easier to carry around and launch. While this comes at the cost of magazine depth, limited to one missile per launcher compared to ground-based cruise missile launchers, the simplicity is to allow high volume of production and more platform agnosticity.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor: Özgür Ekşi
