Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-300 has been selected as the airborne platform for SWORD, a European Defence Fund (EDF) project focused on Stand-off anti-submarine Warfare Operations by Remote Deployment (SWORD), a consortium led by TKMS ATLAS ELEKTRONIK.
SWORD aims to develop a System-of-Systems for stand-off Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), providing an integrated sensor-to-shooter functional chain that enables naval platforms to detect, track, classify and neutralise submerged threats. The 36-month project brings together leading European defence and technology partners to advance a mature concept design for future ASW capabilities.
As part of the consortium, Schiebel will contribute the CAMCOPTER S-300 Unmanned Air System (UAS), the company’s heavy-lift Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) platform. With its extended endurance, high payload capacity and compact operational footprint, the S-300 is ideally suited to support complex maritime missions and the remote deployment of advanced sensor and mission payloads.
The project underlines the growing need for unmanned systems in future naval operations. Designed to operate in both maritime and land-based environments, the CAMCOPTER S-300 provides a flexible airborne capability for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), as well as extended mission profiles requiring larger payloads, longer endurance and operational adaptability.
“We are proud that the CAMCOPTER S-300 has been selected for this important European Defence initiative,” said Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group. “SWORD is a great example of European cooperation in a highly relevant maritime defence domain. The selection of the S-300 highlights the platform’s potential to support future ASW concepts with a flexible, unmanned and operationally efficient capability.”
Led by TKMS ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, the SWORD consortium includes partners from across Europe and supports the European Defence Fund’s objective of strengthening collaborative defence research and innovation within the European Union.
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One would hope that someone in the RAN or DoD is looking at what Schiebel is delivering and asking “Did we make a mistake? Given how much time and effort we had invested is it not a good idea to go back to them and invest in a platform we know?”
Unfortunately, there is zero (0) chance of anyone in Defence accepting that they have ever made a mistake. Their view is that they are infallible and everything that goes wrong is by definition always the fault of someone else.
Worst is that the “Logistics Drone” they have signed up for has got a cargo carrying capability of less than 1% of the S300 and only 15% of the S100.
It’s an utter joke.
A “Logistics Drone” for the RAN that can only carry 7kg?
What’s it going to do?
Move the Admiral’s lunch from one end of the ship to the other?
I myself would have gone with the Camcopter it was ( and is ) exactly what the RAN needs. Unfortunately it suffers from the same problem that afflicts so many of the ADFs acquisition projects. Regardless of How good it is, How much less expensive it is, How much technology will be transferred or How much the users like it, unless it comes with a made in the U.S.A. Sticker, it will be dumped. That is not to say that every piece of kit we get from the U.S. isn’t any good but buying U.S., just so the U.S. can prolong the production run isn’t in Australia’s best intrest.