An armada of aerial and surface drones scouting ahead of the main body of traditional helicopters, jets and ships is a step closer to reality following trailblazing work by the Royal Navy.
Using a specially-modified Wildcat maritime strike helicopter, aircrew, drone operators and tech experts showed it is possible for multiple uncrewed systems to work seamlessly with traditional air and sea power over considerable distances.
The trials show the Hybrid Navy plans in action, with drones and crewed ships and helicopters working together to advance the integration of new systems with current equipment. The activity – known as Dragon Rider – was spread across more than 200 miles of southern England: from the Lizard peninsula to Somerset and Salisbury Plain.
They demonstrated the potential of a new, ready-to-use system which links Royal Marines on the ground with Wildcat helicopter crews, ship Commanders and uncrewed drones.
The week-long workout by the Maritime Aviation Strike Operational Advantage Group (formally the Wildcat Maritime Force), which operates the Wildcats at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, built on the initial Eagles Eye trial held in Cornwall back in January.
During that trial, for the first time drones shared live data with Wildcat crews allowing the latter to target a moving vehicle before taking it to the fjords of Norway on Exercise Tamber Shield.
The Providence VX is a fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) surveillance drone made in the UK by UAV Aerosystems.
Dragon Rider vastly expanded the scope of future drone operations – which are central to the Hybrid Navy concept of tomorrow’s Royal Navy.
A Wildcat fitted with additional sensors relayed data fed from multiple drones flying over southern England to operators in a central hub at Yeovilton.
In doing so, the exercise vastly extended the range at which drones can operate ahead of a ship or task group – something previously limited by how far their radio signals could reach.
Aircrewman monitors the live feed from the UAS from a seat in the rear of the Wildcat. The picture can enable the helicopter to approach threats covertly before engaging with Martlet missiles.
Participants interacted with real-time video feeds from multiple drones and practiced identifying targets whilst sending secure messages across the network.
At the same time, operators successfully took charge of the drones over the network, to prove that true remote control over long distances is now a reality.
Crucial to the success is a new highly-secure, easy-to-use mesh communications system battle-tested in Ukraine – known as a Mobile Ad-hoc Network, or MANET for short.
SourceS: UK Royal Navy; Navy Lookout