United States Orders Hero 120 Drones in Nearly $1 Billion Deal

The U.S. Army has signed a multi-year contract for the purchase of Hero 120 loitering munitions to equip infantry units, European Security & Defence reported.

On October 3rd, Mistral and the U.S. department of Israeli firm Uvision announced a contract for an undisclosed number of Hero 120 strike drones worth $982 million.

The multi-year deal was struck under the Lethal Unmanned System program, which aims to rapidly equip infantry brigade combat teams with strike drones to boost firepower against short-range targets.

In addition to supplying munitions, the companies will provide operator training and full life-cycle support. First deliveries are expected in early 2026.

Hero 120 has a range of up to 60 km and an endurance of about one hour carrying a 4.5 kg warhead. It is shipped in a container that doubles as a launcher.

This is not the first U.S. purchase of the system: in June a small batch was bought for U.S. Special Operations Forces. Those units will receive the Hero-120SF variant, modified to customer specifications, details of which were not disclosed.

A year earlier the U.S. Army signed another near-billion-dollar deal for loitering munitions, ordering Switchblade 600 drones from AeroVironment under a five-year, $990 million contract.

The exact numbers for the Hero 120 purchase were not disclosed. Based on prior contracts, analysts can estimate order sizes: under a 2025 contract the U.S. purchased 54 Switchblade 600 systems for $120 million.

The Switchblade 600 package includes a control unit, eight loitering munitions and two components of the ISTAR reconnaissance and control system.