After successful tests of a 3-D printed kamikaze drone model, a Huntsville company is preparing to offer its technology to a new Army program that aims to strengthen infantry combat teams.

Cummings Aerospace recently carried out three test flights of its Hellhound turbojet-powered drone, according to a company news release. In the tests at Pendleton UAS Range in Oregon, the Hellhound exceeded 350 mph, validated its seeker integration and conducted simulated strikes with an inert warhead.

Sheila Cummings, CEO of Cummings Aerospace, said in the release that Hellhound offers a speed advantage over traditional quadcopter and propeller-driven drones.

“In combat, our peer adversaries will exploit every second of delay,” she said. “Hellhound’s jet-powered design ensures Infantry Brigade Combat Teams can act faster – gathering intelligence and striking critical targets deep in the contested areas before the enemy has time to react.”

The late January test flights built on 12 previous flights conducted in 2023 and 2024 that established the system’s core capabilities, according to Cummings Aerospace.

The company said it intends to submit the modular, 3-D printed Hellhound to the U.S. Army’s in-development Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) program.

A recent pre-solicitation notice for LASSO emphasized the need for rapid development and modularity ahead of a pending request for prototypes. The Army sees LASSO as a way to make infantry brigades as effective against adversary armored units as the service’s armored brigades.

LASSO’s anti-tank capability “is a key contributor to our efforts to increase the lethality of the Army of 2030’s IBCT and maintain overmatch against our near-peer threats” said Maj. John Dibble, PEO Soldier assistant product manager for LASSO, in a 2023 news release.