US Army Tests Tethered Drone on a Cable: Up to 50 Hours in the Air and Invisible to EW

The US Army has completed field tests of tethered unmanned aerial systems (Te-UAS) mounted on the lightweight Infantry Squad Vehicle-Utility (ISV-U). This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing an official statement from the US Army. The tests, conducted by the Maneuver Battle Lab (MBL) between July 27 and August 7, 2026, were among the first systematic checks of whether a lightweight ground platform can carry a stable reconnaissance and communications node at altitude in cross-country terrain under active enemy electronic warfare (EW).

Course of the Tests at McKenna Field

At the McKenna Field Landing Site, two commercial tethered drones were mounted on a five-seat ISV-U — a modification of the base nine-seat M1301 infantry vehicle, equipped with a cargo platform. Operators practiced the full cycle: drone takeoff and landing, static hover at altitude, follow-mode tracking of a moving vehicle, and emergency scenarios. At each stage, the time to launch and recover the aircraft was recorded. Captain Sara Ranyon, who took part in the tests, reported that she was able to launch the aircraft in minutes and recover it with a single command. Strategic Spectrum Warfare lead Mark Pallaro added that after takeoff, the aircraft required little to no operator intervention.

Why the Cable Changes the Game

Tethered drones differ fundamentally from ordinary quadcopters in terms of endurance. While battery-powered systems stay in the air for 20–60 minutes, a power cable allows certain solutions to operate for tens of hours on end. As an example, the statement cites the Elistair-made Orion 2, designed for continuous operation of up to 50 hours. By comparison: a drone with a 30-minute endurance would require at least 48 sorties per day to provide around-the-clock coverage of a single zone. Pallaro compared the effect to placing a sensor on a very tall tower — with the difference that such a "tower" can change altitude and move along with the unit.

Protection Against Electronic Warfare

The key advantage of the tethered architecture is reduced vulnerability to EW. Conventional small UAVs rely on radio channels to transmit commands, telemetry, and payload data, and often on GPS/GNSS navigation as well. This creates channels that can be jammed, spoofed, intercepted, or detected. A physical cable can transmit control commands and large volumes of sensor data directly between the drone and the ground station, reducing dependence on radio frequencies and allowing video and sensor traffic to remain on the cable. A tethered drone can lift radio or network equipment tens of meters above the vehicle and move with it, unlike ground-based systems such as the OE-254, which require time to deploy and a fixed position. Depending on the payload, such a system can support software-defined radios, Wi-Fi, LTE, MANET, and other protocols, transmitting voice, data, coordinates, and imagery between dispersed units.

Context: Fiber Optics Already on the Front Line

A similar approach to bypassing EW through a physical communication channel is already being actively used by Russian and Ukrainian forces. They are increasingly using fiber-optic-controlled strike drones to avoid jamming. The difference is one of scale: such FPV aircraft fly kilometers to their target, whereas a Te-UAS does not go beyond the length of its cable and operates as a mobile tower. Nevertheless, the principle — replacing a vulnerable radio channel with a protected physical one — is identical and confirms the trend toward a "wired" UAV architecture under dense EW coverage.

Procurement Prospects

Data on crew loading, equipment dimensions, as well as launch and recovery results obtained during the MBL tests will be used to decide on the justification for procuring the system, its quantity, cost, and delivery schedule. In parallel, another line is developing in the counter-UAV sphere: it was previously reported that the UK Ministry of Defence launched the PANOPTES project — the development of an autonomous laser air-defense system mounted on armored vehicles to combat swarms of cheap drones. The totality of these initiatives points to the formation of a new generation of tactical solutions, in which tethered reconnaissance and kinetic/non-kinetic air defense complement each other within a single infantry unit architecture.