UASs on board ship

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Navies want “private” UASs operated and controlled from their ship decks, and Israeli companies are meeting this challenge.  Aeronautics, the Israeli unmanned air system (UAS) manufacturer, is now offering a new option, of operating its Orbiter-3 UAS from aboard ship.

The Orbiter-3 has a wingspan of 4.2 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 28kgs, and the endurance of 7 hours non-stop flight. It carries up to a 5.5 kg payload.

In ground operations the UAS is launched with a catapult and recovered by a combination of parachute and airbag. On ship a special net is used to catch it at the end of a mission.

The adaptation of the Orbiter-3 for sea operations comes three years after its smaller version, the Orbiter-2, was also adapted for naval missions. The Orbiter-2 is already in operation on the Israeli navy’s vessels.

According to Aeronautics, there is a growing demand for the operation of UASs from combat ships. It comes, in some navies, as a direct replacement of a deck operated helicopter. The aerial platform is needed mainly for early detection of “wave height” threats.

Some Israeli companies, including Aeronautics, have in recent years invested in converting different types of manned helicopters into unmanned operation mode. However, these efforts have been stopped mainly due to technical difficulties.