Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Post anything relating to Weapons Engineering on this thread
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Royal Navy awards contract for new ‘Vampire’ drones

Qinetiq has been awarded a £6.7 million contract for Phase 1 of ‘Project Vampire’, a project aiming to procure low-cost fixed-wing drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities in addition to threat simulation.

According to the contract award notice, the outline of the project is as follows.
“Project VAMPIRE sits within the Develop Directorate of Navy Command and aims to address a number of capability problem sets utilising a low-cost Fixed Wing Uncrewed Air Vehicle (UAV) as a means for the development of operational concepts, payload types, and associated communication and digital architecture.”

According to the contract notice, Phase 1 of project Vampire will run as a 4 year project with an option to extend by 1 year until 31 March 2026.
The project is being contracted to deliver the following:
See -https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-n ... O7U6Ff5hfY
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Meet MAPLE, the brain that will run the UK’s autonomous naval fleet


Now in its fifth iteration, the MAPLE 5 architecture has moved away from the individual command and control of single platforms towards operating multiple platforms and the development of operational concepts at force level.

A 13m-long (41ft) MAST-13 Testbed autonomous vehicle, named Madfox, that was delivered by L3Harris to the RN’s NavyX experimentation division. (Courtesy DSTL) - See attached.

AUCKLAND: Enamored with a vision of a future fleet of autonomous air, ground, surface and underwater vehicles, Britain’s Royal Navy is investing in the creation of a Naval Strike Network, designed to provide the command-and-control backbone for its unmanned systems. For that to work, it needs a brain: a program known as the Maritime Autonomous Platform Exploitation, or MAPLE, with which the baseline information architecture that the UK needs for any of its ambitious plans for unmanned platforms come to reality.

The program, run through the MoD’s Defence Science and Technology Lab (DSTL), started in 2016 and has been used in exercises such as Unmanned Warrior in 2016, Autonomous Warrior in 2018, Autonomous Advanced Force in 2019, and most recently Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping in 2021 (REP 2021) as well as its own smaller events where experiments were conducted to prove how the system can become the baseline architecture for unmanned systems.

Now in its fifth iteration, the MAPLE 5 architecture has moved away from the individual command and control of single platforms towards operating multiple platforms and the development of operational concepts at force level. The intention is to evolve the architecture to be able to implement a broader suite of unmanned systems and make sure it is robust enough to meet the rigors of naval operations.

James McIntyre, principal scientist at DSTL, told Breaking Defense that “Within an operations room [MAPLE] provides the command and control of multiple unmanned systems breaking down those stove-pipes. We have demonstrated that from a single C2 node we can control multiple uncrewed vessels.”

Continues at - https://breakingdefense.com/2022/04/mee ... val-fleet/
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Drones deliver in trials by Royal Navy

The Royal Navy has pushed two different drones to their limits to show how they could be used on front-line operations.
The navy’s drone experts 700X Naval Air Squadron welcomed industry partners to their home base of RNAS Culdrose to test the two crewless aircraft.

It is the second time the drones have been trialled with initial testing last year the first step of showing how they could be utilised on operations.

Now, a second, more intense series of trials have taken place and both the Malloy Aeronautics T-600 quadcopter and Windracers Autonomous Systems’ Ultra drone proved their abilities to carry heavy payloads of 100kg over long distance and more than 250kg over a shorter distance.

The Heavy Lift Challenge is a collaboration between 700X, the navy’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer and Defence Equipment and Support’s (DE&S) Future Capability Group.

It aims to encourage industry partners to see what equipment they have which could be adapted for use by the Royal Navy to deliver supplies such as humanitarian stores, first aid, ammunition and spare parts to the front-line. Both Malloy and Windracers were given a £300,000 contract to further develop their drones.

And the aircraft impressed in the most recent trials which saw the Malloy T-600 fly with a 250kg payload while the fixed-wing Windracers Ultra dropped a 100kg payload 1,000km away to a platform replicating a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier flight deck. It was able to slow on approach and drop its package with pinpoint accuracy.

Continues at - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... -challenge

Video at - https://www.facebook.com/royalnavy/vide ... 8694519232
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Inside the elite Ukrainian drone unit founded by volunteer IT experts: 'We are all soldiers now.'


Aerorozvidka is an elite Ukrainian drone unit founded by volunteer IT experts.
The unit custom-builds or modifies off-the-shelf consumer drones to bomb Russian tanks and armor.
The unit is a key part of the Ukrainian resistance against invading Russian forces.

Aerorozvidka custom-builds or modifies off-the-shelf consumer drones to work in a military context and drop bombs on Russian vehicles under the cover of night.
"Now, we are all soldiers, but our roots are very different," Mykhailo, a board member and head of communications for Aerorozvidka, told Insider.
"Some of us have PhDs. Some have masters. Some are from the IT industry and many other industries. The main thing which unites us is a desire to win this war."
The unit was founded in 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and Russian-backed groups launching a separatist insurgency in the Donbas region.

Tech-savvy volunteers came together to design machines for drone-based aerial reconnaissance to support the Ukrainian army.
Aerorozvidka's founder, an investment banker, and father of four, Volodymyr Kochetkov-Sukach, was killed in action in Donbas in 2015.
"The invasion began not months ago. It began in 2014," Mykhailo said.

Aerorozvidka now operates as a non-governmental organization that closely supports Ukraine's military.
The unit uses a range of drones, many of which are commonly available store-bought drones that they modify and militarize, including Chinese DJI drones and Autel drones, French Parrot drones, and more.
Its most prized drone is the octocopter R-18, which they build from scratch. It has a range of 4km, a 40 minute flight time, and can drop 5kg bombs.
[See attached]

Continues, including photos, at - https://www.businessinsider.com/inside- ... &r=US&IR=T
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Navy Lookout

£32m contract awarded to ATLAS AEUK for 3 sets of Medium Autonomous Underwater Vessel (MAUV) systems.
Including Sea Cat AUV, fitted with high res Synthetic Aperture Sonar and Lidan Marine Launch and Recovery System (LARS) for use with ARCIMS & SEA class boats.
3 Photos at - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 5613795331

Also see - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-n ... vzEoHBBgqM
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

US contractors test futuristic drone aboard US Navy’s stealth destroyer

U.S. contractors with Shield AI conduct a test flight of a V-BAT unmanned aerial system aboard the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) during RIMPAC 2022 exercise.

“This is another big step forward towards Shield AI’s goal of putting a swarm of V-BATs on every US and allied naval vessel — destroyers, amphibs, carriers, patrol craft — in the world,” said the company.

A cutting-edge, futuristic-looking drone was developed by the Shield AI company as vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The V-BAT is a rapidly deployable, GPS-denied navigation-capable, expeditionary VTOL system capable of persistent aerial reconnaissance.

Continues, with photos, at - https://defence-blog.com/u-s-contractor ... destroyer/

Link from Tim.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

New weapons hub in Scotland to develop anti-drone lasers

An anti-drone hub is to be built in Scotland to help meet the growing demand for laser weapons which target small attack drones.

The defence and intelligence technology firm Raytheon UK said the war in Ukraine has highlighted the threat posed by drones.

The firm's president of electronic warfare systems, Annabel Flores, told the BBC that "demand is spiking for cost-effective lasers" able to defeat "asymmetric" threats from drones, rockets and mortars.

Etc. - It comes after the Ministry of Defence announced that a £160m contract had been awarded to Raytheon UK to support the training and development of Royal Navy personnel at Scotland's HM Naval Base Clyde.

See - https://www.forces.net/technology/weapo ... one-lasers
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

U.S. Navy Offers Comments On UCAVs

At the U.S. Naval Institute’s Center for Strategic and International Studies’s (USNI/CSIS) webinar presentation on the “100th Anniversary of Carrier Aviation” shown on July 13, 2022, Naval News asked a question about Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) that was answered by Rear Admiral (RADM) Andrew Loiselle, U.S. Navy, Director, Air Warfare Division.

See - https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... -on-ucavs/
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

UK to develop unmanned anti-submarine helicopter

An unmanned helicopter demonstrator aircraft will be designed and developed in a £60 million contract awarded to Leonardo.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-d ... elicopter/

Link from Tim.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: Unmanned Drones - All Types for Military and Naval Use

Unread post by Pelican »

Pelican wrote: Fri Jul 22, 2022 3:03 pm UK to develop unmanned anti-submarine helicopter

An unmanned helicopter demonstrator aircraft will be designed and developed in a £60 million contract awarded to Leonardo.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-d ... elicopter/

Link from Tim.
Royal Navy to use drones to hunt Russian submarines

Drone helicopters that can search for Russian submarines are being developed for the Royal Navy to free up manned assets and pilots for other missions.

Trials will test whether the uncrewed aircraft can easily drop sonobuoys — small tube-shaped buoys that track submarines and transmit data back to the aircraft.

Under the plans, if a submarine is spotted, the aircraft will alert a crewed helicopter and call in support if necessary.

Continues at - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/roya ... -gg0l9jzvs

Link from Tim.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Weapons Engineering”