BlueHalo has announced the successful live fire demonstration of its Next-Generation C-UAS Missile (NGCM)–Freedom Eagle-1 (FE-1), addressing the critical need for munitions industrial base expansion to meet the rapidly evolving advanced aerial threats.
During the first Controlled Test Vehicle (CTV) live fire demonstration held in January at Yuma Proving Ground, Team BlueHalo conducted three missile test flights. In each of the three tests, FE-1 launched successfully and performed its flight as planned.
The team collected video, system and sensor data logs, radar tracks, and RF diagnostics data from each flight test to evaluate the missile's guidance, navigation, and control systems and analyze aerodynamic models to drive down significant technical risk associated with the program.
The recent demonstration is the latest in a string of FE-1 milestones, highlighting its rapid development timeline:
- Last June, BlueHalo announced its selection as one of two vendors chosen to continue development of the NGCM by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (CCDC AvMC) Aviation & Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC).
- In August, the company announced the completion of multiple rounds of testing for the FE-1, including the successful firing of its dual-thrust, solid rocket motor.
- In December, BlueHalo successfully completed warhead detonation testing, which collected impact data against simulated targets. Test data included penetration depths, velocities, impacts, and panel frag patterns, which will be used to confirm FE-1's lethality predictions and support continued warhead development.
BlueHalo' s continued investment and acceleration in the development of FE-1–with a planned customer live-fire demonstration in 3Q 2025–is in response to legislative affirmation to this capability is a priority of growing importance. In the recently passed FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). FE-1 is a critical response to the evolving UAS threat landscape.
Supported by Congressional oversight, significant budgetary allocations, and the recognition of current system limitations, it addresses the need for enhanced range, lethality, and adaptability. This missile ensures a layered, cost-effective defense strategy, protecting national security interests against increasingly sophisticated drone threats.
BlueHalo's FE-1 is designed to counter larger UAS (Group 3 and above) with enhanced maneuverability, range, and rapid launch capabilities. This addresses the limitations of current systems, which cannot effectively engage advanced, larger drones. It rapidly and affordably enhances warfighter lethality, survivability, and combat effectiveness, providing an agile and disruptive new technology to the munition industrial base and expanding national security air defense capabilities.
