Schiebel’s Camcopter S-300 will “serve as the dedicated unmanned air system [UAS]” during a major European Defence Fund (EDF)-enabled maritime security exercise late this decade.
The Austrian company on 13 January announced that its latest rotary-wing product will be employed by the Thales-led SEACURE industry consortium, which seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of “a sovereign European capability in future autonomous anti-submarine warfare [ASW] and seabed warfare [SBW]”.
“We have been working successfully with Thales on various ASW solutions for the S-100 since our first participation at the NATO exercise REPMUS in 2022,” Schiebel says. “Due to its longer endurance and higher payload capacity, the S-300 opens up a multitude of new possibilities for ASW and SBW.”
The company cites an operating endurance of more than 24h with the 700kg (1,540lb) maximum take-off weight UAS carrying an electro-optical/infrared camera and inverse synthetic aperture radar payload; or 6h with a maximum payload of 250kg.
Launched last November and with a 45-month duration, the SEACURE effort involves 35 companies from 13 nations: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
To culminate with a major sea trial by 2028, the EDF-backed project “focuses on the detection, classification, identification and tracking of underwater threats in challenging conditions, using air, surface and underwater drones”, Thales says.
“Recent events are accelerating plans throughout NATO and European countries to protect maritime infrastructure of national interest,” the company notes.
European Defence Editor Craig Hoyle has reported on the UK, European and international military aviation sector for almost 30 years, and has also been the Editor of Flight International since 2015. He joined FlightGlobal in 2003, and also compiles our annual World Air Forces directory.View full Profile
