Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group, in collaboration with the French Armament General Directorate, DGA (Direction génerale de l’armement), and the French Navy, have tested the SDAM demonstrator (Système de Drone Aérien Marine/ Naval Aerial Drone System) from a multi-mission frigate (FREMM).
The trials took place on board the French Navy frigate, Provence in the Mediterranean Sea between the 2nd and the 9th of October. The vessel had previously been adapted by Naval Group to operate the SDAM. These sea trials were arranged to demonstrate the system’s high performance from an operational warship and the SDAM’s capabilities for surveillance and intelligence missions.
“We are proud to see that the SDAM and the VSR700 are maturing,” said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters. “The system that we will offer will be able to operate from a frigate and be adapted to the naval missions it was designed for,” he added. “Working alongside Naval Group and other local partners we are building a robust and sovereign solution. I look forward to further demonstrating the potential of our system and to collaborating with the French Navy in order to offer an initial operational capability by 2026.”
“We are very happy with the success of these trials which mark a major step in the reinforcement of the French Navy’s future capabilities. We have passed a significant milestone in terms of the complexity of the integration of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) on board a heavily armed vessel, both physically and operationally,” said Pierre-Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group. “These trials have also shown the relevance of the Naval Group I4Drones mission system, and the fact that the SDAM demonstrator can seamlessly be integrated on a vessel and will work harmoniously with other existing systems. In synergy with the ship’s combat system and the embarked helicopter, the drone will be another means to access complementary airspaces and will truly be a remote sensor that will expand the crew’s perception and treatment of threats in real time.”
The derisking study for the SDAM programme was awarded to Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group by the DGA. The objective is to design, produce and test a rotary wing unmanned aerial system demonstrator for the French Navy. The system works with the Airbus Helicopters VSR700 unmanned aerial system and the I4Drones mission system developed by Naval Group. Naval Group has also been tasked with the integration of the system onboard military vessels. The project also involves French SMEs like Hélicoptères Guimbal and Diades, contributing to the creation of a local naval UAS industry in France.
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A great achievement but at what cost and risk? I have yet to see a comprehensive evaluation of comparable crewed v/v uncrewed embarked helicopter systems. This platform is based upon a crewed aircraft. So what do we get by removing the human from the airborne component of the system?. What performance is sought by this trial programme? And please do not claim the human reduces sortie length because the human is overall not the deciding factor in utilisation. I dare say this uncrewed version is considerably more costly than the crewed version both off the shelf and continuing support.