Army Tests New Tech for Recon Missions at Arcane Thunder Exercise

During Arcane Thunder 24, the U.S. Army evaluated new reconnaissance tools to enable deeper sensing across multi-domain environments. Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s solar-electric K1000ULE drone and high-altitude balloons provided a persistent surveillance layer to detect signals of interest across distances up to 500 kilometers. Once a general emitter location was identified, a secondary UAS was launched to precisely locate the target, enabling simulated kinetic and non-kinetic strikes.

The K1000ULE played a key role in the Army’s pursuit of layered, long-range ISR capabilities that operate far beyond traditional battlefield ranges. While reconnaissance remains a constant need, Lt. Col. Aaron Ritzema noted that new tools, such as the K1000ULE and advanced sensing platforms, are changing the way the Army executes missions, offering scalable, infrastructure-free solutions for contested environments.

Read the full story at National Defense.

Story by Josh Luckenbaugh