French MoD press release – Translated by Naval News
The test campaign was conducted from the multi-purpose frigate (FREMM) Provence in the Mediterranean Sea. Industry teams worked closely with engineers from the DGA’s expertise and test centers and the frigate’s crew. The flights made it possible to validate the drone’s use in increasingly complex scenarios and to demonstrate its ability to take off and land automatically in conditions representative of its use.
This success is the result of industrial and governmental work carried out as part of the risk mitigation study shared with Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group. These activities focused in particular on automatic flight control software, electromagnetic compatibility between the drone and the ship’s various sensors, radar and communications systems, and integration with the combat system.
The naval drone demonstrator is based on the VSR-700 drone, which was derived from the Cabri G2 light helicopter manufactured by French SME Guimbal, and incorporates numerous technologies. Its performance has been tested in several test campaigns led by the DGA. During a test phase conducted in March 2022, involving more than 130 landings on a civilian boat in difficult sea conditions, the drone demonstrated its ability to take off and land fully autonomously. A performance was confirmed during a second test campaign in May 2023, when the demonstrator proved itself in even more difficult sea conditions – winds of 42 knots, sea state 4.
The final test campaign, which took place aboard the FREMM from October 2 to 9, 2023, allowed the full performance spectrum of the drone system to be tested.
During this final test phase, more than 25 engineers and technicians from DGA, DGA Flight Tests, DGA Naval Techniques, DGA Project and Industry Engineering, in particular Airbus Helicopters, Naval Group and Diades – for the maritime radar – were deployed to evaluate the good technical performance of the demonstrator in maritime overflight during seven flights with a total deployment time of more than seven hours.
The scenarios used were progressive, from the first takeoff and landing to a flight representative of a tactical mission scenario with the FREMM crew.
The SDAM in its final version is expected to provide the French Navy with an unprecedented capability thanks to its sensors optimized for use in a marine environment, which can be deployed about 150 km from the carrier ship, thanks to its autonomy of nearly eight hours, and thanks to its ability to take off and land fully automatically even in very rough seas.
The VSR-700 demonstrator is already equipped with a maritime surveillance radar and an AIS receiver – a transponder ship tracking system – as well as an optronic sphere.
With this combination of sensors, it will eventually be possible to acquire surface situational awareness over a very large area – beyond the sensors on board the building where the drone will be operated – for a very long period of time and over a much larger area than that covered by the French Navy’s current drones. Other payloads could be studied and tested as part of the SDAM program developments.
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