Swedish Home Guard receives French Parrot Anafi USA GOV drones.

On February 7, 2024, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), representing the Swedish Armed Forces, procured an undisclosed quantity of French Parrot Anafi USA GOV drones for integration into the Home Guard. These drones are intended to enhance tactical approaches and methods at lower unit levels, such as platoons and groups, within the Home Guard's operations, encompassing tasks like protection, surveillance, defense, and surface monitoring.
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The Parrot drones designated for deployment within the Home Guard are labeled UAV 06 A and form a component of the larger UAV 06 Skatan system. (Picture source: FMV)

The introduction of French Parrot Anafi USA GOV drones within the Swedish Home Guard offers units the capability to gather near real-time intelligence, extending their observation capabilities beyond physical obstacles like hills or forests. The drones designated for deployment within the Home Guard are labeled UAV 06 A and form a component of the larger UAV 06 Skatan system.

Colonel Jan-Åke Andersson, the head of the Support Department at the National Home Guard Headquarters, underscored the strategic significance of integrating remotely piloted aircraft into the Home Guard's operations, highlighting its potential to enhance operational effectiveness during both daylight and nighttime scenarios.

In preparation for field deployment, a carrying system is scheduled for delivery during the summer of 2024, facilitating the transportation of accessories crucial for RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) operations. Initial allocations of UAV 06 A have been assigned to military regions, with subsequent distributions to specific combat units slated for 2025.

The primary objective is to ensure that each company within the Home Guard possesses at least one drone pilot, totaling several hundred trained operators. Instructor training programs commenced in 2023 and are ongoing throughout 2024, with varying instructor quotas across military regions. The anticipated timeline aims to commence drone pilot training in the autumn of 2024, further strengthening the Home Guard's operational capabilities.

The UAV 06 A drone is constructed on the Anafi USA GOV platform, manufactured by the French company Parrot. The Anafi drone is available in four configurations: Anafi USA, Anafi USA SE, Anafi USA GOV, and Anafi USA MIL. The Anafi USA GOV drone package includes one Anafi USA drone, three smart batteries offering a flight time of up to 32 minutes each, one Skycontroller USA featuring an 8-inch display, a multi-port fast USB charger, a charger for the Skycontroller USA, an extra set of propeller blades, three USB-A/USB-C cables, one USB-C/USB-C cable, and a hard case.

Additional features of this drone package include the ability to unlock a maximum ascent speed of 6 m/s, disable LED lights, customize or disable the auto-RTH function, import KML and TMS map tiles for situational awareness, share precise coordinates, take off and land from the hand, take off from a moving vehicle or vessel, connect external antennas for in-vehicle use, and utilize the Cursor on Target feature. The Skycontroller USA includes an RJ45/LAN port.

The UAV 06 A drone is constructed on the Anafi USA GOV platform, manufactured by the French company Parrot. (Picture source: FMV)

The Anafi USA GOV drone offers a folded size of 252 x 104 x 84 mm, and an unfolded size of 282 x 373 x 82 mm, with a mass of 500 g and a maximum take-off weight of 644 g. The maximum flight time of the USA GOV variant is 32 minutes, with a maximum horizontal speed of 14.7 m/s and a maximum ascent speed of 4 m/s (6 m/s on the unlocked GOV version). The service ceiling is 5,000 m above MSL (Mean Sea Level).

Security features include default zero data sharing, SD card AES-XTS encryption with a 512-bit key, WPA2 AES CCMP encrypted network connections, and digitally signed firmware.

The drone's sensors include satellite navigation (GPS, GLONASS & GALILEO), barometer, magnetometer, vertical camera, ultra-sonar, 2 x 6-axis IMU, 2 x 3-axis accelerometers, and 2 x 3-axis gyroscopes.

The EO image chain features two sensors, digital zoom of up to 32x, video resolutions of 4K/FHD/HD, MP4 video format, and photo formats of JPEG and DNG. The IR image chain features a FLIR BOSON sensor, digital zoom of up to 32x, video resolution of 1280 x 720 px, MP4 video format, photo resolution of 320 x 256 px, and JPEG photo format.

Image stabilization is achieved through a 3-camera IR/EO stabilized gimbal with hybrid 3-axis, mechanical 2-axis roll/pitch, and electronics (EIS) 3-axis pitch/roll/yaw stabilization, with a controllable gimbal tilt range of -90° to +90°.

The fast-charging smart battery is a high-density LiPo type with a battery life of 32 minutes, a charging port USB-C, a charging time of 2 hours with a USB-PD charger, and a mass of 195 g.

The Parrot Skycontroller USA station, based on an 8’’ Samsung Galaxy Tab A, has dimensions of 313 x 208 x 72 mm, with a mass of 1.14 kg (GOV version). It operates on Wi-Fi transmission with operating frequencies of 2.4 GHz, UNII-1 & UNII-3, direct video stream resolution of 720p, 2-hour charging time, 4-hour 30-minute battery life, and includes ports for USB-C, USB-A, and Ethernet.