UK Navy to receive Austrian-made drone helicopter
The Austrian company Schiebel announced on Friday that it has been awarded the contract for its rotary-wing drone.
As noted by the company, Schiebel and Thales have been awarded the Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) contract “Peregrine” by the UK Ministry of Defense.
According to a press release, this contract award will deliver the Camcopter S-100, fitted with a powerful naval surveillance sensor suite, to provide a comprehensive maritime capability protecting Royal Navy ships on operational tasks.
“Schiebel, together with system integrator Thales, will provide the operationally proven S-100 with a range of high-precision Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and systems. The Thales I-Master radar, an EO/IR camera, and an Automatic Identification System (AIS), all fused with the CarteNav’s AIMS Mission System enables an all-weather detection and identification capability of unknown targets,” the news release says.
Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS. It operates by day and by night, under adverse weather conditions, with a beyond line-of-sight capability out to 200 km / 108 nm, over land and sea. Its carbon fiber and titanium fuselage provide capacity for a wide range of payload/endurance combinations up to a service ceiling of 5,500 m / 18,000 ft. In a typical configuration, the S-100 carries a 34-kg / 75-lbs payload for up to 10 hours and is powered with AVGas or JP-5 heavy fuel.
Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, said: “We are immensely proud that the CAMCOPTER® S-100 is the UK Ministry of Defence’s choice for its prestigious Peregrine program. The S-100 is the optimal UAS for a growing number of Navies worldwide and has proven its superiority and outstanding capabilities throughout its numerous operational deployments.”
