UK accelerating heavy lift drone project for Navy

The UK Ministry of Defence has announced that the Uncrewed Air Systems Heavy Lift Capability (UASHLC) framework has been created “to accelerate the development of a range of autonomous Heavy Lift UAS for use predominantly, but not exclusively, in the maritime domain”.

The Ukdefencejournal reported on this.

It is noted that last year, the Royal Navy announced that it was developing new approaches to acquire autonomous solutions to support operational activities – such as how to get supplies to the frontline of operations.

In April, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose hosted the inaugural Heavy Lift Challenge. The aim is to showcase crewless technology which could be adapted to carry supplies and cargo to ships and personnel.

This week, the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain announced a tender for the development of the corresponding equipment.

The notification states that the main intention is a potential increase in the number of ready-made platforms.

In this way, the Ministry of Defense promotes the accelerated development of one or more of the supplier’s unmanned aerial vehicles that will improve the operational capabilities of UAVs.

The purpose of the UASHLC framework is to support and inform drone development, analysis, research, and evaluation.

The Framework is designed specifically to:

• provide Sponsor / User confidence in the potential for UAS systems to provide recoverable, adaptable, Autonomous/remotely piloted air systems, capable of accurately delivering heavy payloads at range;
• enable the Authority to identify and as appropriate fund the most viable solutions in the market for accelerated further development;
• provide the Authority with a mechanism for end users to potentially acquire systems for further evaluation or other use.

The framework is open to all Industry Partners who can enhance the Heavy Lift UAS market.

This regards to delivering payloads, fuel, software and Counter UAS technologies.

Previously, the US media reported that Russian specialists were undergoing training in Iran on the use of locally developed drones.