Thales and Schiebel to Deliver Innovative Uncrewed Rotary Aircraft Solution to Royal Navy

International navies now find themselves increasingly threatened by a range of hostile platforms, often in congested maritime environments. The ability of an uncrewed rotary aircraft that can launch quickly and then provide long-range mission endurance and the ability to find, fix, track, and identify targets will bring additional protection for the ship and its crew, providing them invaluable time to prepare and respond.

Thales will act as the lead systems integrator for the program that brings together an unrivaled combination of proven UAS capability from Schiebel and a range of high-precision intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors and systems from Thales.

Schiebel will provide its operationally proven CAMCOPTER® S-100, a highly effective uncrewed air system that already has more than 100,000 operating hours, including demanding deck-launched operations in challenging winds and sea states.

The S-100's sensors, supported by an Automatic Identification System and fused together with the CarteNav AIMS Mission System, provide the operator the ability to detect and identify unknown targets quickly.

The Thales I-Master radar can be operated in both Synthetic Aperture Radar and Maritime Moving Target Indication modes, and once it detects and finds a contact, the onboard electro-optical/infra-red sensor is cross-cued to perform the identification.

High-definition imagery and radar data are downloaded to the human operator and disseminated in real-time through the host ship's Combat Management System and made available to multiple users.

This partnership will bring together a combined 30 years of experience in UAS design, integration, testing, and operations with the S-100's proven track record. This combined capability is built on trusted solutions that deliver real value with immediate effect.