BAE Systems Australia unveils new VTOL drone at Avalon Air Show 2023. (Colin Clark)

AVALON AIR SHOW — BAE Systems Australia used the first day of the biggest Avalon Air Show in history to unveil its new Strix long-range strike and ISR drone..

The system is co-developed by BAE and Perth-based Innovaero, an expert in product design and manufacture in the Australian market — yet another example of how companies are trying to use local Australian partners to help sell equipment to the Lucky Country. 

BAE used every cool and relevant adjective for a drone to describe the new weapon in its release: “A hybrid, tandem wing, multi-domain and multi-role UAS capability, Strix could be used for a variety of missions including air to ground strike against hostile targets and persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). It could also act as a ‘loyal wingman’ for military helicopters.”

More specifically, Strix is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft that can be stuffed in a standard shipping container and can carry a range of weapons, including the AGM-114 Hellfire, Brimstone, APKWS II 70mm laser-guided rockets and the AGM-179 JAGM-MR.

It’s also meant to carry a new Razer precision guided munition (LCPGM) being developed by BAE Systems Australia, a weapon that BAE also revealed at the show.

“We are designing Strix to employ munitions capable of destroying land targets up to and including main battle tanks,” Kisa Christensen, director of BAE Systems Australia’s Red Ochre Autonomy and Sensors, said in a statement. “Equally, we are designing the platform to facilitate missions by long-range precision fires platforms by providing accurate targeting information about enemy assets out to maximum munitions range.”

While the company is still building the first prototype, it displayed a mockup at the show. BAE funded the system’s development internally, but spokesmen would not disclose how much was spent. First flight is expected by the end of 2023 and it could be operational, the company said, in three years.

BAE Systems Australia CEO Ben Hudson told Breaking Defense that fitting the aircraft into a standard shipping container “was one of our key seven requirements when we kicked the program off. It takes about a minute to fold the wings, and then you push it straight in a container and, without the weapons on board, it’s about 650 kilograms, and then you’re on the back of a truck and you’re off to the next location.”

He expects the Australian Army would use the aircraft since they fly the nation’s rotary wing fleet. Also, it’s designed to fly from Royal Australian Navy ships — and other nation’s navies, presumably.