A loitering munition is a weapon system that can fly to and orbit a target area for an extended period before committing to a strike by diving into the target and detonating an onboard warhead. It occupies the design space between a guided missile (which follows a predetermined or sensor-guided trajectory with no loiter capability) and a strike drone (which drops or launches a separate weapon and returns to base). The loitering munition is itself both the delivery vehicle and the warhead.
The category spans a wide range of size and capability. The Israeli IAI Harop (23 kg warhead, 6-hour endurance) was among the first widely deployed examples. The Switchblade 300 (hand-launched, <1 kg warhead) sits at the small end. LUCAS and the Shahed-136, though sometimes called loitering munitions, are more precisely one-way attack drones — they cruise directly to target coordinates rather than orbiting a search area, though LUCAS variants with vision-based targeting can perform limited loiter-and-identify behavior.
The term “one-way attack drone” (OWA) is increasingly preferred for systems designed for direct strike rather than persistent loiter — the Shahed-136, LUCAS, and their many derivatives. The distinction matters for airframe design: a true loitering munition optimizes for endurance (high aspect ratio, low wing loading, efficient cruise), while a one-way attack drone optimizes for cost and range (low aspect ratio, simple structure, maximum fuel fraction). See Wing Planform Selection for UAVs for how this distinction shapes geometry.
Related terms
- Attritable Aircraft — the middle ground between expendable and reusable
- Expendable Airframe Design — the philosophy underlying both loitering munitions and OWAs