For the first time a fleet of drones will fly crucial supplies between ships of the UK Carrier Strike Group when it deploys to the Indo-Pacific later this month. Alongside its F35B stealth jets and naval helicopters, flagship HMS Prince of Wales’ air group will also consist of nine powerful octo-copters for remotely moving items – food, packages from home and engineering parts – around the task group.
The trial of the new systems alongside crewed aircraft is intended to free up the more expensive helicopters to focus on their primary role of protecting the task force from danger.
Drone specialist 700X Naval Air Squadron from Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose is embarking a team of 12 sailors to operate nine air systems, initially from three ships in the group to test the capability.
Lieutenant Matt Parfitt, a drone flight commander with 700X NAS, said previous carrier strike deployments that shows 95% of stores transferred weigh less than 50kg.
The Malloy T-150 has eight rotor blades each around two feet in length. It has an endurance of between 20 to 40 minutes, top speed of 60mph, and is able to lift up to 68kg.
It needs a team of two, one remote pilot and a second to monitor the drone’s command unit, and can be flown manually or autonomously to designated waypoints with an underslung cargo.
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