U.S. Army Experiments with Long-endurance Drone, Balloons in the Philippines

U.S. Army Soldier with K1000ULE in the Philippines during the Balikatan exercise

During the U.S.–Philippine Balikatan exercise, the U.S. Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force deployed Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s K1000ULE to support extended-range sensing missions across the South China Sea. The solar-electric aircraft, launched from a vehicle on the remote island of Basco, conducted daylong ISR operations while retaining 80% battery life upon return. Troops used the K1000ULE to zoom in on areas of interest, flag signals, and share data with Philippine forces, advancing joint interoperability in contested electromagnetic environments.

The lightweight, infrastructure-free platform fits into a standard case, requires just 10 minutes for assembly and launch, and is nearly undetectable, often mistaken for a bird. It joins a broader experiment by the Army's ERSE Company, which also tested high-altitude surveillance balloons and other uncrewed systems to assess scalable sensing capabilities in GPS-denied conditions. The K1000ULE continues to be evaluated in U.S. Army exercises, including Edge and Project Convergence, to inform future ISR, network extension, and deployment strategies in the Indo-Pacific.

Read the full story at Defense News.

Written by Jen Judson Photos from Staff Sgt. Tristan Moore/U.S. Army & Aaron Favila/AP