Reference
The launch node, defined
The language of the launch-node category — what a launch node is, what "munition-agnostic" and "host-agnostic" mean, and how launch works under jamming — in the terms buyers use.
What is a launch node?
A launch node — or launch/cueing node — is the durable layer between a host platform and the effector it fires. It takes a cue from command-and-control, prepares the effector, runs the launch, and hands off control. The node is increasingly treated as capital that survives many munition cycles, while the effector is the consumable re-bought each engagement. The Umbra Launcher Core is Silentis's launch node.
What is the difference between a drone, a UAV, a UAS and an RPAS?
A drone is the everyday term for any uncrewed aircraft; a UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) is the airframe alone, and a UAS (uncrewed aircraft system) is the full system — airframe, ground control station and the link between them. An RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft system) is the ICAO/EASA term for a UAS under direct human control. Uncrewed and unmanned mean the same thing — uncrewed is the newer, gender-neutral usage now standard in UK MOD and NATO documents, and both terms appear in procurement. The same split carries to the surface and subsea domains as a USV (uncrewed surface vessel) and a UUV (uncrewed underwater vehicle).
What does "effector-agnostic" or "munition-agnostic" mean?
An effector-agnostic (or munition-agnostic) launcher is not welded to one maker's round. Most fielded launchers are munition-bound — a feature of a single effector programme, firing only that family. An effector-agnostic design treats the round as the operator's own commodity, sourced without vendor lock-in, with each effector type qualified to the launcher individually.
What does "host-agnostic" or "platform-agnostic" mean?
A host-agnostic (platform-agnostic) launcher rides any platform — man-pack, UGV, truck, 4×4, unmanned surface vessel or submersible. One core mounts many ways, so a host already in service becomes a launcher by configuration; the effector is qualified per type.
Standalone launch node vs munition-bound launcher?
A munition-bound launcher is sold as part of its maker's own effector family — you cannot buy the launcher on its own, and it fires only that round. A standalone launch node is sold apart from both the platform and the round, and is built to fire more than one effector. Standalone nodes are rare in the market.
What is a multi-canister launcher (MCL)?
A multi-canister launcher holds several ready-to-fire rounds in canisters or cells, so the operator carries a mixed load and reloads by swapping canisters. A multi-cell magazine packs folding effectors dense and fires them in salvo. Unlike an MCL bound to one round family, an effector-agnostic magazine is not tied to a single munition.
What is a drone launcher (UAV launcher)?
A drone launcher (or UAV launcher) gets a fixed-wing drone airborne without a runway. Tube launch fires the airframe from a launch tube, with wings that deploy after release, and rail launch slides it along a guide rail under its own thrust; both suit small, lightweight airframes. Catapult launch (bungee, spring or pneumatic ram) and pneumatic launch (compressed air) add a boosted push for heavier airframes or a shorter launch run. The Umbra Launcher Core is Silentis's drone launcher, offering catapult and pneumatic launch alongside its core tube-launched magazine.
What is a loitering munition or one-way effector (OWE)?
A loitering munition — also called a one-way effector (OWE), a one-way-attack (OWA) drone, a kamikaze drone, or, in the French dialect, a munition téléopérée — flies to a target area, loiters, then strikes, expending itself. It is the cheap, attritable round a launch node fires. Umbra Strike is Silentis's loitering-munition launcher.
What is counter-UAS (C-UAS), and what is a drone interceptor?
Counter-UAS (C-UAS), or counter-drone, covers the methods used to detect, track and defeat a hostile drone: hard-kill methods use a kinetic effector to destroy the target, soft-kill methods use jamming, spoofing or GNSS denial to disrupt it without destroying it, and non-destructive capture — netting a drone out of the air — is a low-collateral option where debris risk matters. A drone interceptor is the hard-kill effector: a low-cost, purpose-built drone flown onto the attacking drone's track. In the counter-UAS launch role, a launch node fires that interceptor cued by radar, EO/IR, RF or acoustic sensors, or straight from air-defence C2, addressing small UAS (DoD Groups 1–3 / NATO Class I–II) including one-way-attack drones of the Shahed/Geran class, procured under the (V)SHORAD budget line. Umbra Counter-UAS is Silentis's counter-UAS launcher.
What is a drone in a box (drone docking station)?
A drone in a box (or drone docking station) is a housing at a fixed site that stores and launches a drone without an operator present, and typically recovers and recharges it, opening and flying the mission on a cue from a detection or command-and-control system. Most docks on the market are sized to one manufacturer's small multirotor. Umbra Box is Silentis's drone in a box, custom-sized for a single large UAS, built on the shared Launcher Core.
What is GNSS-denied or GNSS-independent launch?
GNSS-denied describes an environment where satellite navigation is jammed or spoofed. GNSS-independent launch means establishing an accurate launch solution with no satellite fix — distinct from jam-hardened GNSS, which still depends on the signal being present. Contested electromagnetic conditions are now the battlefield default.
What is autonomous safe-launch under EW?
Autonomous safe-launch under EW means the launch system runs the full arm–safe–fire sequence itself, with electronic safe-arm and safe sequencing, when the radio environment is contested by electronic warfare (EW) and the operator may be cut off.
What is a CRPA (anti-jam GNSS antenna)?
A CRPA (controlled reception pattern antenna) is a multi-element GNSS antenna that steers nulls onto jamming signals, keeping a satellite-navigation fix live where a single-element antenna would be overwhelmed. It is the higher-end tier of anti-jam GNSS antenna, above a filtered single-element design. Silentis's GNSS-denied USV navigation offers a multi-element CRPA with null-steering in its jamming resilience configurations, with integration available for your boat.
What is a Doppler velocity log (DVL)?
A Doppler velocity log (DVL) measures a vessel's velocity over the seabed, or through the water column, using acoustic Doppler shift, holding a dead-reckoning position solution when satellite navigation is unavailable. It is a standard sensor on subsea and surface platforms operating in GNSS-denied conditions. Silentis's GNSS-denied USV navigation configurations are designed around a DVL and an inertial unit: jamming resilience adds a multi-element CRPA and integrity monitoring, and gap bridging offers a filtered anti-jam antenna as an option (integration available).
What do salvo, ripple and magazine depth mean?
Salvo (or ripple) launch is firing multiple rounds in quick succession; magazine depth is how many ready-to-fire rounds a node carries before reload. Both answer saturation — mass drone attacks that overwhelm a one-shot defence — by putting several effectors up against a saturating threat without reloading between shots.
What is attritable mass, and why does cost-per-engagement matter?
Attritable mass means platforms cheap enough to lose and replace quickly — small, smart, cheap, many. Cost-per-engagement (cost-to-kill) is the recurring C-UAS down-select axis: the shot must cost less than what it defeats. A durable node paired with a cheap, competitively sourced effector keeps that ratio favourable — volume of fire over an exquisite single system.
What are cue-in and handoff?
Cue-in is a node receiving a track from upstream C2 or a sensor; handoff is passing post-launch control of the effector between nodes, or to a terminal seeker. Open interfaces let a node cue in from any sensor or air-defence C2 and perform cross-domain handoff — netting air, surface and subsea nodes into one layered picture.
What are MOSA and open-architecture requirements?
MOSA — the Modular Open Systems Approach — means open, documented interfaces so third-party subsystems interoperate. It is legally mandated for new US programmes and echoed in EU interchangeability rules, and a launcher that is not open-interface is structurally disadvantaged.
What do "ITAR-free" and "EU-sovereign" mean?
ITAR-free means a system carries no US International Traffic in Arms Regulations controls, so export is not gated by US licensing. EU-sovereign supply keeps intellectual property, production and qualification in Europe. Together they let a system compete in markets where export-controlled US kit meets friction.
What are subsea and naval launch?
A common core can span land, surface and subsea hosts. Naval launch fires from an unmanned surface vessel for stand-off strike with no crew at risk; subsea launch fires from a submersible that rides out weather submerged, then surfaces to launch. Subsea is the hardest variant — sealing, corrosion and fault-tolerance under pressure.
What are the national buyer dialects for loitering munitions?
Different militaries name the same class of weapon differently, and the term signals what is being bought. The United Kingdom uses "one-way effector (OWE)" and "Launched Effects", often alongside a common launch tube. France uses "munition téléopérée (MTO)". Poland frames procurement around "reconnaissance-strike" (recon-strike) and battery-level fire modules. Ukraine speaks of "deep strike" and "middle strike" as informal range bands. Australia uses "precision loitering munition (PLM)". The US Army's vocabulary is "Launched Effects" and munition-agnostic ("not tied to a specific Army missile"). Matching a buyer's dialect matters because national tenders rarely use trade-press or maker vocabulary.
What is a common launch tube (CLT)?
A common launch tube (CLT) is a standardised launch tube sized so that more than one type of effector can be fired from the same tube, letting an operator mix rounds without a new launcher for each. It is the hardware expression of a munition-agnostic requirement, and appears explicitly in UK one-way-effector and common-launcher tenders.
What are Launched Effects (LE), and what do SR/MR/LR mean?
Launched Effects (LE) is the US Army's umbrella family for launched air effects spanning both ISR and strike roles. It is banded by range into short-, medium- and long-range (SR / MR / LR), with a longer ultra-long-range (ULR) tier beyond. A family buy across the bands is a request for effectors that share interfaces and a launcher — which is why "one-way attack" (expendable strike) and "reconnaissance-strike" (sensor-plus-strike) are treated as points on one spectrum.
What are the three launcher categories?
Fielded launchers fall into three broad categories. A munition-bound launcher is sold only as part of one maker's effector family and fires only that round. A standalone (modular) launch node is sold apart from both the platform and the round and is built to fire more than one effector. An integrated system bundles sensors, command-and-control and a launcher into one closed air-defence product. Standalone nodes are the rarest of the three.
What are the DoD UAS Groups (1–5)?
The US Department of Defense sorts unmanned aircraft into five UAS Groups by maximum take-off weight, normal altitude and airspeed; a platform moves up a group if any single attribute qualifies. Group 1 is 0–20 lb (<1,200 ft AGL, <100 kt); Group 2 is 21–55 lb (<3,500 ft AGL, <250 kt); Group 3 is <1,320 lb (<18,000 ft MSL, <250 kt); Group 4 is >1,320 lb below 18,000 ft; Group 5 is >1,320 lb above 18,000 ft. Counter-UAS doctrine concentrates on Groups 1–3 — the small-UAS band that holds most of the fielded threat.
What are the NATO UAS Classes (I–III)?
NATO uses a three-class scheme keyed mainly to weight, with altitude and radius as guidelines (ATP-3.3.8.1). Class I is below 150 kg (micro/mini/small); Class II is 150–600 kg (tactical); Class III is above 600 kg (MALE/HALE/strike). It maps roughly but not exactly onto the DoD Groups, so tenders often cite both.
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