Swarmly‘s head offices and manufacturing facilities are located in Limassol, Cyprus. The company is known for its Poseidon VTOL UAS (H10 and H12 models) which serve in the armed forces of 8 countries from Africa, South-East Asia and Europe, including the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Specifically the company told Naval News that in Ukraine, they are among very few foreign-made systems that can operate in the very difficult GPS-denied and electronic warfare environment one may face there.
Naval News talked with Swarmly and learned that the company will unveil its first Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) in the upcoming Defence Exhibition Athens (DEFEA) 2023 held 9-11 May. In this article we share with you exclusive information and renderings about the promising uncrewed vessel.
The new USV is named B5 Hydra. It is designed for high speed, long endurance maritime and coastal patrol. The hull measures 6 meters in length, 2.36 meters in width, and has a draft of 0.65 meters. It weighs 1,200kg and its height above waterline is only 2.1 meters. The USV is designed to fit into a single 20’ (or two in a 40’) shipping container and launched by just two operators.
The vessel can achieve a maximum speed of up to 85 knots and features a maximum total range of 650 nautical miles. It is designed for extended autonomous operations and can remain at sea virtually indefinitely. It can sustain an impressive cruising speed of 65 knots (120 km/h) for up to 10 hours. The USV is designed to operate up to Beaufort scale 8.
B5 Hydra can be equipped with a gyro-stabilized remotely controlled turret with 12.7mm heavy machine gun (HMG) and up to 600 kg of explosive charges. Swarmly has selected the LIONFISH 12.7 Ultralight remote weapon station (RWS) by the Italian defense company Leonardo to equip its USV. Other payloads are being considered such as the Leonardo Black Scorpion very light torpedo.
The USV, among others, is equipped with a HD EO/IR gimbal by the Israeli company NextVision and can be controlled remotely across a distance of up to 200 km from the control station (via a Poseidon VTOL UAS acting as communication and datalink relay). Alternatively, a satellite data link can be used to control the USV across even greater distances.