French Navy Going Through Major Facelift

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The CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS has once again convinced with its outstanding maritime capability when successfully completing qualification flights for the French Navy recently.

According to uasvision.com, the flight trials were performed from the deck of the French Navy’s three Mistral class amphibious assault ships.

The aircraft, which serves for military and civilian applications, is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS that needs no prepared area or supporting launch or recovery equipment. It operates day and night, under adverse weather conditions, with a range out to 200 km, both on land and at sea. Schiebel’s S-100 navigates automatically via pre-programmed GPS waypoints or can be operated directly with a pilot control unit. Missions are planned and controlled via a simple point-and-click graphical user interface. High-definition payload imagery is transmitted to the control station in real time. The UAV can complete its mission automatically in the most complex of electromagnetic environments. Its carbon fiber and titanium fuselage provides capacity for a wide range of payload / endurance combinations, according to Schiebel website.

The French fleet is currently undergoing a modernization process within which Schiebel is playing a key role in flight trials in order to confirm the Ship Helicopter Operating Limits (SHOL) and to qualify the CAMCOPTER S-100’s integration onto the Navy.

During the flight demonstrations in the Western Mediterranean, the CAMCOPTER S-100 conducted around 30 takeoffs and landings within a total of 15 flight hours during day and night. A L3 Wescam’s MX-10 was used to transmit daylight and infrared data.

Throughout the trials the system was operated independently by a crew from the French Navy. As in previous deployments for the French customer, here again the CAMCOPTER S-100 proved to be a highly valuable asset for demanding maritime operations.