Ship-based UAS: rising above the waves

from EDR Magazine #66 November - December 2022

Early warning and long-range naval surveillance radars

By David Oliver

While land-based unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been used in operations since the Vietnam War, it is only recently that ship-based UAS have been accepted as an essential force multiplier for naval forces.

A US Navy MQ-8C Fire Scout landing on the LCS USS Jackson deployed to the Pacific in April 2022. © US Navy

The United States Navy took the lead when it selected the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout as the winner of its VTOL Tactical UAV competition in 2000. Based on a modified Schweizer 333 light helicopter airframe, the protracted development of the initial RQ-8A Fire Scout for the US Navy led to an enhanced version with a four-blade rotor, and a payload of FLIR EO/IR camera /laser designator and targeting system, Coastal Battlefield Mine and reconnaissance System mine detector and armed with Hellfire missiles.

The US Navy had a requirement for 36 air vehicles but it was not until 2012 that the US Navy MQ-8B was deployed operationally. However, due to performance limits, the US Navy’s focus has shifted to the development of the MQ-8C based on the larger Bell 407 singleturbine light helicopter.

In July 2022 Steadycopter won a tender to supply the Israeli Navy with its Black Eagle 50E electric unmanned helicopter. © Steadicopter

Northrop Grumman will build 35 MQ-8C Fire Scouts for operations from destroyers and other surface warships under the terms of a US$ 55.1 million US Navy contract announced on 30 January 2019. The MQ-8C will complement the manned MH-60 helicopter by extending the range and endurance of ship-based operations. It will provide situational awareness and precision target support with its ability to detect, identify, track, and potentially engage threats at extended ranges while supporting maritime requirements across the range of military operations. The MQ-8C has an endurance of 8 hours on station, a range of 150 nautical miles with a maximum payload of 1,360 kg.

In April 2022, the US Navy deployed Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8C Fire Scout UAS on USS Jackson (LCS 6), its first in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), to provide maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISR&T) capability. Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC-21) and HSC-23 are the primary operators of MQ-8C and the majority of the squadrons’ deployments will be in INDOPACOM for the foreseeable future. The Fire Scout’s deployment to the Pacific comes as the US Navy and US Marine Corps (USMC) develop the Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) concept. The Israeli Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) manufacturer Steadicopter Ltd announced in July 2022 that it had won a tender to supply the Israeli Navy with its Black Eagle RUAS. The Black Eagle Electric family, the first family of unmanned helicopters that are powered by an electric motor, are capable of carrying several payloads and sensors, and can be adapted to diverse applications, including complex maritime missions. The company also announced the signing of a contract to supply the systems to another, as yet, unnamed naval customer.

The Black Eagle 50E Electric helicopter has a maximum take-off weight of 50 kg, a useful load weight of 30 kg including payload and batteries, and a flight time of two hours. The electrical motor significantly reduces the weight of the platform, thereby enabling the installation of additional payloads that are required for a variety of missions. Weighing just 20 kg as a platform, the helicopter can carry additional batteries for longer flights, and heavier mission payloads. As such, and with the added advantage of its near silent operation, the system enables the widest variety of missions, including covert operations.

The Black Eagle 50H, H for hybrid, dualelectric propulsion helicopter is based on

The Spanish Alpha 900 has been sold to the Greek Navy for shipboard operations. © Alpha Unmanned Systems

The VSR700 autonomous take-off and landing capabilities are being tested at sea for the French Navy. © Airbus

the gasoline-powered Black Eagle, including vertical take-off and landing, long hover durations, and advanced mission sensors for any mission scenario, whether day or night. In addition, as with other Steadicopter platforms, it is adapted to high-altitude flights.

The Spanish company Alpha Unmanned Systems is focussing on the naval operation of its unmanned helicopters as a key tool for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions in the naval environment.

The company gained its first success with the recent sale of the Alpha 900 to the Greek Navy that will operate the unmanned aircraft from its warships. The Greek Navy has acquired five Alpha 900s plus its associated systems.

Designed and manufactured by the Madridbased company, the Alpha 900 offers great versatility for use from ships even with deck space limitations. It is an ISR tool for embarked operations or in a naval environment and with a 25 kg MTOW it is capable of carrying a payload of 4 kg which can include a laser designator, SAR radar, or double sensor camera with laser illuminator, and performing missions of 4 hours of autonomy.

Four Schiebel Camcopter S-100s have been delivered to the French Navy for deployment on Mistral-class amphibious helicopter carriers. © Schiebel

It employs a combustion engine that uses heavy fuel, can take off and land autonomously with the ship in motion and is built to be compatible with NATO STANAG regulations as all its critical systems are redundant. It is also suitable for other types of naval operators such as coast guards, and for search and rescue missions at sea or on the coast as well as the surveillance of illegal immigration or illicit trafficking.

In March 2022 Airbus Helicopters has begun trialling autonomous take-off and landing capabilities at sea for the VSR700, a UAS being developed in the frame of the Système de Drone Aérien de la Marine (SDAM) programme, conducted by the DGA for the French Navy. The test campaign has been conducted off the coast of Brest, France, onboard a civilian vessel equipped with a helicopter landing deck. Beyond demonstrating the autonomous takeoff and landing (ATOL) system developed for the VSR700, the trials were also used to assess the approach procedures before landing on the vessel.

However, the most successful VTOL MUAS to date is the Austrian Schiebel Camcopter S-100 which has demonstrated its maritime capabilities with more than ten navies worldwide. Naval Group, on behalf of the French Navy, accepted four additional Schiebel Camcopter S-100 VTOL UAVs in December 2020 to be deployed on the Mistral-class amphibious helicopter carriers Tonnerre and Mistral. The acquisition came after the successful integration of a Camcopter S-100 on the French Navy Mistral-class Dixmude in 2019, which was the first time in Europe that a VTOL UAS had been integrated with the combat system of an amphibious helicopter carrier. In May 2022 the Royal Australian Navy selected the Camcopter S-100 MUAS for Block One of its Sea 129 Phase 5 project, while the S-100 is considered a leading contender for Poland’s Albatros project to provide a tactical short-range maritime VTOL UAV for the Polish Navy.

The UK Royal Navy has been slow to adopt an operational MUAV although the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Future Capability Group (FCG) awarded a four-year £ 360 million contract to Leonardo in July 2022 to deliver the Rotary Wing Uncrewed Air System (RWUAS) Technology Demonstration Programme (TDP), RWUAS CCD Phase 3 TDP.

The programme will include the flight of an advanced uncrewed VTOL prototype

The Royal Australian Navy Camcopter S-100s are operated by 822X Squadron. © RAN

Leonardo SW-4 RUAS Solo technology demonstrator. © Leonardo

referred to by the UK MoD as Proteus, which is a key element of the Royal Navy Future Maritime Aviation Force (FMAF) vision for anti-submarine warfare support.

Trials will test the capability of the aircraft to drop sonobuoys that track and communicate submarine activity – enabling the aircraft to alert a crewed helicopter such as a Merlin and call for support if a submarine is located.

Designed to operate at lower cost than crewed aircraft, capabilities derived from the demonstrator could also reduce the exposure of Royal Navy personnel to hostile threats. The uncrewed helicopter is due to undertake its first flight in 2025.

Capable of carrying a large load, combined with the ability to operate in harsh environmental conditions, the aircraft could also demonstrate its utility beyond ASW, and the project will assess other potential uses including ship-to-ship resupply and casualty evacuation.

Following on from experience and technology developed through the first two phases of the RWUAS CCD programme during which a Leonardo SW-4 RUAS Solo technology demonstrator was used, Phase 3 will see Leonardo create an up to 2-3 tonne demonstration aircraft that will have modularity at its core. The dual-use RWUAS prototype will be adapted to deliver a wide range of roles in the military and parapublic domains. These include ISR, maritime specific missions and logistic supply.

The Royal Navy is also testing VTOL drones to help rescue sailors who fall overboard or survived ship or air accidents at sea. Remotely-piloted systems that locate personnel in the water, drop life-saving equipment and hover over the location until rescuers arrive have been tested extensively by RN technical experts on Horsea Island, Portsmouth and at sea. Members of the NavyX team are working out how heavy-lift Project Minerva drones could deliver potentially life-saving equipment and the RN’s experimentation experts have tested the drones with DE&S and companies Malloy Aeronautics and Planck Aerosystems.

A T150 Minerva drone was initially successful in locating a dummy in the water, deploying a test package which could contain a life raft and hovering above the dummy to identify their location. The Minerva drones are manufactured by London-based company Malloy Aeronautics. The company has

The T150 manufactured by Malloy Aeronautics is being used as part of the Royal Navy’s Project Minerva. © Royal Navy

successfully made the T150 an e/VTOL cargo drone capable of carrying a payload of 68 kg, with a maximum range of 70 km with an endurance of 36 minutes. The drone can land and allow people to unload the cargo or the cargo can be dropped while flying. The booms of the drone can be folded and the entire aircraft fits neatly into a protective case for storage or to transport the aircraft by ground or air vehicle. The US military calls these cargo drones the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle (JTARV) and the T150 won 1st Place at the 2019 PMA-263 Tactical Resupply UAS Challenge sponsored by the United States Department of Defense, and it was also featured at the US Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) campaign in 2020.

The US company Planck Aerosystems, now part of AeroVironment Inc, designs, develops and builds advanced solution to enable unmanned aircraft to operate safely and autonomously from moving vessels at sea.

The introduction of Project Minerva with the Royal Navy means that drones could be used for search and rescue missions at sea. With their ability to drop objects, extensively tested with Royal Marines last year in Norway and Cyprus, the drones could also deliver a life buoy and other survival equipment. Following the success at the Diving School, sea trials have begun on an industry boat to test the smaller T80 Minerva that is capable of lifting payloads up to 30 kg. It has a range of 55 km and a cruising speed of 25 m/s.

The Royal Navy has also unveiled a unique testbed ship to support trials of the latest technology and autonomous systems. The 42-metre, 270-tonne vessel arrived in Portsmouth in July 2022 and is named the Patrick Blackett. It will be used by the RN’s experimentation and innovation experts NavyX who have been driving innovation across the service and passing them quickly to the frontline.

The Damen 4008 Fast Crew Supply ship was purchased from the Netherlands, adapted for Royal Navy use and delivered within 12 months. The vessel will enable NavyX to experiment without the need to place demand on other navy ships, many of which are deployed permanently away from UK waters. She will also offer the chance to work closer with industry and academia partners.

The ship, with a crew of five Royal Navy personnel, will have a “plug and play” element to support the navy’s new Persistently Operationally Deployed Systems (PODS) concept which means it can be adapted to the specific trials or experiments including testing drones, autonomous vessels and AI decision-making.

The Royal Navy’s new Damen-built testbed ship, the Patrick Blackett. © Royal Navy

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