Mortars go airborne as Army tests new drone bomb tech

The new device is a removable attachment that allows mortar rounds normally fired from tubes on the ground to be carried and dropped by drones from the air.

Army tests device that turns standard mortar rounds into drone-dropped munitions, expanding battlefield options with existing ammunition. A soldier carries a mortar during an exercise at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., on Oct. 21, 2026. The Army is testing a way to turn ordinary mortars into bombs that can be dropped by drones. (Seth Cohen/U.S. Army) The Army is experimenting with a way to turn ordinary mortar rounds into bombs that can be dropped from drones, potentially giving soldiers the ability to attack enemy positions with ammo already in their arsenals. The weapon recently passed a live-fire test in which 60 mm mortar rounds were dropped from a moving drone, hitting their target area, the Army said in a statement Wednesday.

The device, developed at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, is a removable attachment that allows mortar rounds normally fired from tubes on the ground to be carried and dropped from the air. A drone drops a mortar round during an Army exercise at Fort Hood, Texas, on Oct. 27, 2026. (Kevin Spence/U.S. Army) Ryan Gorman, a senior Army scientist involved in the effort, said the technology could eventually be adapted to other kinds of ammunition. The service is working to put the device through major military exercises to gather soldier feedback. The technology is the latest in a series of