Royal Navy uncrewed aircraft trial marks European first
UK flight test sees largest unmanned aircraft take off from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier.
ASV Global will design and build six new unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for SeaTrepid DeepSea under an order announced on 9 August.
The USV will be a derivative of ASV’s C-Worker system. Called SeaWorker, the 7.6m system will be fitted with an acoustic underwater positioning system to allow it to track autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in shallow and ultra-deep waters.
SeaTrepid DeepSea will deploy the SeaWorkers as part of an autonomous vehicle programme that will combine the use of the USVs and AUVs to conduct wide area, high-resolution surveys.
Dan Hook, managing director, ASV Global, said: ‘We are delighted to be supplying six new USVs into this ground-breaking project. The SeaWorkers have been designed specifically as a ruggedised workboat, capable of carrying large payloads and handling varying weather conditions and water depths. The ASView Control System will allow for the reliable and safe operation of the six vehicles.’
Following the build and sea trials the USVs will be shipped to SeaTrepid’s base in Louisiana, US.
UK flight test sees largest unmanned aircraft take off from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier.
CATIC have displayed its new AR-2000 drone at Dubai Airshow 2023, emphasising ship-based capabilities with PLA already purchasing.
Australia has ordered four Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAS which can operate as an uncrewed maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) alongside the country’s in-service Boeing P-8A MPA fleet.
The Khronos tethered UAS has been designed to be simple to use and has drawn on Elistair’s experience with hundreds of existing customers.
The use of long-duration Uncrewed Surface Vehicles for maritime surveillance and monitoring has become part of the fleet inventory as navies try to reduce the level of effort required to gather intelligence on areas of interest.
A growing number of uncrewed systems have been on show at Sydney's Indo-Pacific Maritime exhibition with a select few currently being trialled to see if they can enhance the Royal Australian Navy's surveillance levels.