Page 12: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2024)

INSIGHTS AERIAL DRONES & MINE HUNTING

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM

HAS EARNED ITS SEA-LEGS

By Edward Lundquist he Swiss-Swedish joint-venture UMS Skeldar V-200 mum take-off weight of 235kg, a maximum speed of 75 knots vertical take-off unmanned arial system (VTUAV) and a payload of up to 40kg. It can take off and land automati- has earned its sea-legs. The V-200 has been selected cally on the deck of the corvette in up to 20 knots of wind speed

Tfor the German Navy’s Braunschweig-class K130 and sea state 3. An integrated sensor transmits real time optical corvette program, as well as the Belgian-Dutch replacement and infrared images to the ground control station. The corvettes’ mine-countermeasures ship (rMCM) program. capabilities for imaging reconnaissance will be signi? cantly

The aircraft has conducted aerial inspections of merchant ships expanded in the future--objects can be detected and identi? ed for emissions for the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). with the Sea Falcon far beyond the on-board sensor system.” “We provided a VTUAV that could land and take off from EM- The Belgian and Dutch navies have a shared requirement for

SA’s ships,” said UMS Skeldar CEO Axel Cavalli-Bjorkman. mine warfare vessels to operate in the high-traf? c environ-

The Finnish Coast Guard has also successfully demonstrated ment protecting the approaches to some of the busiest ports

Skeldar V-200 operations to support day and night search and and waterways in the world. Together they are procuring 12 rescue missions from the Patrol Vessel Turva as part of the mine countermeasures vessels-- six for each navy -- which

Valvonta2 project led by the Finnish Border Guard and funded will carry a “toolkit” of unmanned and offboard systems. by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. That toolkit suite, provided by Exail, includes two Skeldar

The Germany Navy’s corvette program calls for two V- V-200 aircraft. The ships will also have unmanned surface 200aircraft for each of their K130s. and unmanned underwater vehicles and towed sonars for mine

ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH (ESG) is the detection. The toolkit includes the MIDS system (Mine Iden- prime contractor for the German Navy’s Sea Falcon program, ti? cation and Disposal System) for mine identi? cation and which implements the requirement for a “Reconnaissance and neutralization; SEASCAN remotely operated vehicles (ROV);

Identi? cation in the Maritime Operational Area (AImEG)” ca- and K-STER expendable mine disposal vehicles (EMDS).

pability on the corvettes. According to a statement from ESG, “Exail selected us as the result of an open procurement, the Skeldar V-200 can “operate for up to 5 hours with a maxi- which shows we have a strong product and we can be very competitive,” said Cavalli-Bjorkman.

The mine countermeasure vessels of the

Flexible Payloads

Belgian-Dutch rMCM program will feature the

The V200 can conduct Search and Rescue (SAR) missions,

UMS Skeldar V200 aircraft. provide initial sensor information to queue follow-on investi- gations, and serve as a communications and data relay between dispersed nodes in a network, as well as act as a gateway to transmit data received from underwater systems. The company is also offering its autonomous V-200 Skeldar with new capa- bilities. UMS Skeldar has demonstrated the capability to de- liver payloads such as a small unmanned surface vessel (USV) and carry sonobuoys to prosecute anti-submarine warfare.

The Skeldar V200’s ASW sonobuoy dispensing capability was developed as part of the Canadian Department of Nation- al Defence’s (DND) Innovation for Defence Excellence and

Security (IDEaS) program.

While manned aircraft have been used to carry sonobuoys, there haven’t been rapid-launch ship-based unmanned sys- tems that can deploy passive sonobuoys for ASW operations.

According to Clifton Flint, who manages for global business development for sonobuoy systems at Ultra Maritime, said the partnership with UMS Skeldar has helped close that gap.

Naval Group image

January/February 2024

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