US Navy foresees an uncrewed future for its surface and underwater fleet
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
Airbus and Wilhelmsen Ships Service have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop UAS and related services for maritime parcel deliveries, Airbus announced on 5 June.
Skyways is an experimental project that aims to develop a safe and commercially viable aerial unmanned delivery system for use in dense urban cities in its first trial phase. The project is being led by a team in Singapore, where plans are progressing towards the launch of a first trial system at the National University of Singapore in July 2018.
The agreement allows the companies to start the shore-to-ship trial phase which will cover the delivery of goods from the Singapore coast to ships anchored at bay.
The initial two-week shore-to-ship pilot trial will begin in the third quarter of 2018. Command and delivery centres will be set up at the pier to facilitate the deliveries with an initial delivery range of up to 3km from the shoreline. A second delivery station will be positioned at an open space in Marina South to extend delivery coverage to more anchored vessels.
Under the collaboration, Airbus is the overall Skyways system architect and provider. It will leverage experiences from its first trial phase to develop the UAS for shore-to-ship deliveries. The system-of-systems includes aviation-standard UAVs, ground control stations, air navigation systems and operational and maintenance procedures.
Wilhelmsen will develop and provide customer services and ensure compliance of the UAS operations with maritime safety and security regulations.
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
Tekever has manufactured the AR3, AR4 and AR5 UAS with all systems sharing common electronics and software architecture, which has enabled the reuse of ground segment elements within the new ARX UAS.
As the dynamics of aerial combat rapidly evolve, Chinese scientists have engineered a sophisticated air separation drone model that can fragment into up to six drones, each capable of executing distinct battlefield roles and challenging the efficacy of current anti-drone defences such as the UK’s Dragonfire laser system.
Advancements in air defence technologies have begun to reshape aerial combat dynamics in the Middle East, as illustrated by recent events involving the Israeli Air Force and Hezbollah.
Both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war have been using UAS for effective low-cost attacks, as well as impactful web and social media footage. Thousands more have now been committed to Ukrainian forces.
The US Army has intentions to develop light, medium and heavy variants of the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) as part of the branche’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle family.