Screen grab from a promotional video by Uvision showing a canister-launch system for the Hero munition based on the US JLTV vehicle.
On June 17, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) awarded Mistral, Inc. a contract to design, build and test the Organic Precision Fires – Mounted (OPF-M) system.
Mistral teamed with Israel’s UVision LTD to deliver the USMC with advanced loitering munition capabilities based on last’s Hero 120 system.
UVision’s Hero family of loitering systems includes Hero-30, Hero-70, Hero-120, Hero-250, Hero-400, Hero-900, and Hero-1250. The Hero-120 is the largest of the short-range systems. The loitering munition has a range of 40 kilometers, an endurance of 60 minutes and is armed with 4,5 kilograms warhead.
The OPF-M will be integrated by Mistral on the Light Armored Vehicle-Medium (LAV-M), Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), and Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV). The company will also integrate the system with the USMC C2 and other mission payloads
“Mistral and UVision bring together decades of experience in the development and manufacturing of defense systems to address the US Marine Corp’s need for a proven precision strike loitering system,” said Col. (Ret.) Yossi Gez, executive vice president of Mistral, according to Yahoo.
The USMC picked the Bethesda-based company following a series of tests and evaluations at different US Government test centers.
The OPF-M system will provide the USMC with an advanced ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] and precision indirect fire strike capabilities. Similar systems are being developed by Russia. The use of loitering munitions became more prominent in the last few years.
