Schiebel Camcopter S-100 UAS ready for Royal Australian Navy service.

The Austrian company Schiebel has successfully demonstrated the heavy fuel variant of the Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) as part of its customer acceptance program with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) (Picture source: Schiebel)

Under the directive of the Navy Minor Project (NMP) 1942 to procure a vertical takeoff and landing Maritime Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System – Interim Capability (MTUASIC), RAN sought a platform for shipborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Selected for its maturity and demonstrated capability, Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 UAS successfully completed its flying program for the RAN validation and verification customer acceptance program at the Jervis Bay Airfield facilities in New South Wales, Australia.

In a comprehensive series of tests, the JP-5 (NATO F-44) heavy fuel powered Camcopter S-100, equipped with a Wescam MX-10S payload and at operational ranges of up to 60 nautical miles (111,12 km) as well as altitudes above 10,000 feet (3,048m), presented its ability to deliver world-class imagery to commanders.

As the RAN Contract Manager Kevin Beare noted, “The heavy fuel variant of the S-100 has performed very well during the validation and verification program and the RAN looks forward to utilising this platform to achieve NMP1942 project objectives over the coming years.” “The S-100 will prove to be an effective asset in enhancing the Navy’s ISR capabilities,” said Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group. “We are excited about the positive feedback we are receiving from RAN and are looking forward to continued cooperation in the future.”