The recent surge in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) attacks on both civilian and military ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s crucial maritime routes with substantial implications for the global economy, underscores the critical importance of incorporating on naval vessels means capable of safely disabling, disrupting, or seizing control of an unmanned aircraft system. That is what C-UAS systems are designed to do.
In November 2023, Naval Group released a rendering of the new 2,400-ton offshore patrol vessel (OPV) class (7+3 vessels) to be in service by 2035 as part of the “Patrouilleurs Hauturiers” program (formerly known as Patrouilleurs Océaniques) for the French Navy (Marine Nationale). The new ships will replace the venerable D’Estienne d’Orves class (A69) and the Flamant class.
The design showcases a kind of integrated round antennas distributed along the ship’s superstructure, with one antenna positioned on each side. Many observers questioned the specific purpose of this suite of antennas.
Some days later, more information about the system surface during a French-Greek Security Workshop held in December 2023 in Athens, an event which the author attended following an invitation from GICAN.
Under the auspices of the Direction de la Coopération International de Sécurité (DCIS) department of the French Ministry of Interior and the Greek Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, with the support of the French Maritime Industry Association (GICAN), the Association of Hellenic Manufacturers of Defence Material (SEKPY), and the Embassy of France, the French-Greek Security Workshop (December 14-15, 2023) facilitated the exchange of best practices and the establishment of new connections among French and Greek companies in the fields of internal security and civil protection.
The French-Greek Security Workshop event enabled French and Greek defence companies to strengthen industrial and commercial relations in various security sectors, including state action at sea, border protection, cyber security, and more. During that 2-day workshop, about 40 French companies and 40 Greek companies presented very briefly their activities and products, round-tables were held and B2B meetings.
HYDRA 300 C-UAS by CERBAIR
The representative of French company CERBAIR unveiled some very interesting images in his presentation featuring the conceptual design of the new French OPV class with the distinctive circular antennas under discussion in circles and a C-UAS product named HYDRA 300. Therefore, we conclude that the antennas on the OPV design, will be C-UAV antennas and for the first time, the system will be integrated from built with the ship in order to protect it against drone threats.
HYDRA is a full coverage detection solution for high performing drone and pilot detection by RF analysis. The system relies on a number of sensors installed at the top of masts and working together thanks to radio frequency signal processing algorithms. HYDRA 300 can cover all current and future frequency bands (RF ranges 433MHZ to 6GHz), including “non-civilian” UAVs, at a range of 3 Km and at a 90° elevation. The system has a very low rate of false alarms while it can be integrated in a multilayer Command and Control (C2) system.
Naval News contacted CERBAIR but, unfortunately, they didn’t want to comment on the topic. Nevertheless, the presentation revealed the identity of the mysterious antennas on board the new OPV class. We may assume that it will be a naval derivative of HYDRA 300 with increased capabilities.
