Defense contractor Cummings Aerospace has demonstrated a new mobile strike capability by launching two 3D-printed Hellhound S3 jet drones from a launcher mounted on a Polaris utility buggy. During the test at the Pendleton UAS Range in Oregon, a single operator used one handheld fire control system to send both drones on separate autonomous missions. The August 2026 demonstration marked several milestones for the turbojet weapon, proving that mass-produced air power can be deployed rapidly from light vehicles with minimal personnel.
Until this recent test, the Hellhound had only been flown in a man-portable configuration across more than a dozen flight trials. The latest evaluation validated a new vehicle-mounted launcher capable of holding up to eight drones and executed the first ripple-fire sequence for the S3 system. Prior to launch, the operator programmed individual waypoints, altitudes, and flight paths into the control unit. Both aircraft carried inert payloads, following separate preplanned routes at varying speeds while streaming live telemetry back to the ground operator, who retained the ability to redirect or abort either flight mid-mission.
Weighing roughly 13 pounds and spanning the size of a baseball bat, the Hellhound S3 relies on an onboard turbojet engine to achieve ranges exceeding 60 kilometers at speeds up to 618 kilometers per hour. The manufacturing approach utilizes 3D-printed and commercial off-the-shelf components, allowing Cummings Aerospace to target a production rate of at least 100 airframes a month. Operators can swap between four distinct mission modules—covering armor-piercing, blast-fragmentation, electronic warfare, and decoy roles—in under two minutes without tools, positioning the platform for multi-role military applications.
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