Lorica Technologies' Mule 28 Heavy Drone Successfully Delivers Bangalore Torpedo, Helping U.S. Army National Guard Breach Wire Obstacles

Lorica Technologies Mule 28 Drone Completes Live-Fire Demo, Successfully Breaches Wire Obstacles

U.S. startup Lorica Technologies, working alongside soldiers from the Oregon Army National Guard's 741st Brigade Engineer Battalion, has jointly demonstrated the real-world combat capability of the Mule 28 heavy-lift drone — successfully delivering and detonating a live M1A3 Bangalore Torpedo to breach wire obstacles during a training exercise.

Remote Detonation to Reduce Engineer Risk

According to information released by the U.S. Army, the demonstration used a two-section M1A3 Bangalore Torpedo suspended beneath the Mule 28 airframe. The drone precisely placed the explosive charge on the obstacle, after which operators remotely detonated it from covered positions. This operational concept is designed to significantly reduce the exposure of combat engineers during one of the highest-risk tasks in military operations.

Performance Specs: 200-lb Payload, Developed in Six Weeks

The Mule 28 has an airframe weight of approximately 20.4 kg (45 lbs) and a maximum payload capacity of 90.7 kg (200 lbs). Its propulsion system consists of eight electric motors driving 28-inch dual-blade propellers. Notably, the platform was developed by Lorica Technologies in approximately six weeks, specifically for this demonstration.

Advanced Sensing and Onboard Computing

According to Lorica Technologies, the Mule 28's onboard computing system is capable of executing 128 trillion operations per second (TOPS) and is equipped with a software-defined radio suite covering 0 to 11 GHz, supporting signal detection and direction-finding. Its sensor suite is reported to support facial recognition, vehicle identification, and weapon detection, with the ability to calculate precise target coordinates directly from camera feeds via onboard processing.

Hive Swarm Architecture Enables Multi-Drone Coordination

The Mule 28 also integrates Lorica's proprietary "Hive" swarm-control architecture. The company states the system is under active development and will support coordinated multi-drone operations as well as natural-language mission command — allowing operators to assign reconnaissance or engineering tasks to drones via voice commands.

Image credit: U.S. Army National Guard. Photo by Oregon National Guard Public Affairs Officer Maj. W. Chris Clyne.

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