The defense company Teledyne FLIR Defense has announced a contract to supply its Black Hornet 4 (BH4) nano-drone to the Swiss armed forces. Specifically, the BH4 will be installed aboard the Piranha 8×8 armored vehicle, to provide troops aboard with an “airborne dismountable Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability sensor.” Installing drones aboard armored vehicles is a new capability that Latin American militaries should consider, and Sissel Moe, Director of UAS Programs at Teledyne FLIR Defense, spoke with Zona Militar about why the BH4 is an ideal companion to an armored vehicle.
The company announced on 2 February a contract worth USD$17.5 million with armasuisse, the Swiss Federal Office of Defence Procurement, for the Black Hornet 4, to be installed aboard the Piranha. The Black Hornet 4 will be integrated through harmonized military standards with the vehicles’ Integrated Combat Solution (ICS), provided by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
The BH4 can be launched from the Piranha by hand, and the operator can use it to gather intelligence, and “all data is simultaneously shared with the crew.” Thanks to Kongsberg’s ICS, the BH4 data can be utilized to generate target points for the Piranha’s Remote Weapon Station. The system is also fully detachable, “so operators can dismount from the vehicle and reattach while the drone is flying.” Deliveries commenced in 2025 and will continue throughout 2026; Zona Militar believes that hundreds of BH4 systems will be delivered.
The Black Hornet 4 weighs “only about 70 grams with a very low visual and electromagnetic signature,” Moe noted, making the system easy to transport and launch while maintaining its stealth capabilities.
South American militaries operate various models of armored vehicles: Argentina’s Army is receiving the Strykers from the US; Brazil’s Army operates the domestically manufactured Urutu and Guarani (and they are incorporating the Italian combat vehicle Centauro II 8×8); Colombia’s Army operates the LAV III; while Peru has announced the acquisition of the South Korean K808 White Tiger APC. Another country that has acquired armored vehicles is Ecuador, but they are lighter than the Piranha: namely the Otokar Cobra II 4×4 armored vehicle. However, not all is good news regarding modernization, as regional militaries also operate legacy fleets of armored vehicles, some of which are several decades old, such as Argentina’s M113s and TAM VCTP vehicles.
Hence, the first question for Moe concerns the installation of the BH4 aboard an armored vehicle. Moe explained, the “BH4 physical integration on a vehicle mainly consists of cabling, a hub for power and data transmission, and an external vehicle antenna for radio communication” the company explained.
Moe noted that BH4 installation will work if the vehicle “sends and receives power and data (network).” The BH4 uses standard interfaces for data communication, for example, STANAG 4609 for live video feed and cursor on target for positional and waypoint data. Moreover, the vehicle will require “a digital vehicle architecture which is able to receive and distribute the data from the BH4 to relevant user interfaces,” the executive explained, like the commander’s screen or the weapon station operators.
In other words, Latin American militaries are advised to discuss their armored vehicle fleets with Teledyne FLIR Defense to determine which systems can operate the BH4.
Zona Militar also asked why Teledyne FLIR Defense believes that Latin American militaries can profit from adding the BH4 to their armored vehicle fleets. Ben Grainger, director of sales for Latin America and the Caribbean, explained that BH4 is tested and verified across a variety of climate zones, including high-humidity and mountainous regions, and has a proven track record of operations in both urban areas and various jungle conditions. Ecuador has already acquired Teledyne FLIR Defense’s drones, which could convince Quito to also consider adding the Black Hornet nano drone to its armored vehicles, for example the new Otokar Cobra IIs.
Grainger added, “apart from being nearly silent and invisible while flying, deploying Black Hornet from a vehicle offers a number of critical advantages when operating against the cartels or other adversaries.” These advantages include protection from counter surveillance and small arms fire; protection from explosives dropped by drones; protection from ground improvised explosive devices (which are becoming more prevalent); and the ability to gather real-time information on a target from a safe distance, allowing teams to accurately plan before assaulting an enemy position.
Zona Militar recently wrote about PERCH, a portable system that can be installed aboard an Abrams tank or a Stryker armored vehicle and can launch a loitering munition developed by AeroVironment. This solution provides a tank or an armored vehicle with a lethal aerial capability. While the Black Hornet 4 is a nano drone for ISR missions, not a loitering munition, it seems that defense industries are interested in adding aerial solutions to armored vehicles to expand their mission capabilities.
Moe agrees with this statement. The Teledyne FLIR Defense executive noted there is a “clear trend toward employing drones in coordinated ‘hunter‑killer’ configurations.” Therefore, a dedicated “hunter” platform like the Black Hornet 4 “works in combination with an armored vehicle, or with FPV drones or loitering munitions to locate, identify,” and eliminate targets. The company believes that the Black Hornet 4 “is well‑suited for the hunter role” while “armored vehicles can play the role of killer when the drone generates target points that can be fed into the vehicle’s Remote Weapon Station, as is being done with BH4 on the Swiss Piranhas,” Moe concluded.
Maybe Latin American militaries will follow the Swiss model and consider the Black Hornet 4 to enhance the capabilities of their armored vehicles, including aerial surveillance and lethality.
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