Euronaval Online 2020: Belgian Company Flying-Cam VTOL helicopter drones designed to conduct naval missions.

At the Online Edition of Euronaval 2020, International naval defense and maritime security industry exhibition, the Belgian Company Flying-Cam presents its latest generation of VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) helicopter drones designed to meet the needs of modern naval forces in the world.

The Flying-Cam SARAH VTOL drone can be used to conduct ISR Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance naval missions. (Picture source suasnews website)

FLYING-CAM S.A. is a Belgian-based company founded in 1988, which has developed Vertical Competence in the Design, Manufacture and Operation of VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) Drones from 25 kg to 150 kg. The company focus is on Real Time Airborne Intelligence with Payloads integration ranging from ISR (Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), Gamma Ray Spectrometer or MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) Sensors.

Flying-Cam has developed two VTOL drones including Sarah and Discovery which are fully manufactured with European components. Today, many navies in the world has launched the development of a new strategy to field unmanned systems in the air, on the water, and under the sea over the coming years. To meet these new needs of naval forces, Flying-Cam presents his range of drones that are able to fly longer and over a greater distance with a weight and a size allowing to be carried on any type of ships.

The Flying-Cam 4.0 SARAH (Special Aerial Response Automatic Helicopter) is an electric VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) featuring 25 kg Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) and 60 minutes flight time with a payload up to 10 kg. This drone helicopter is powered by a 5kW electric engine and it can fly up to a distance of 10 km

The Flying-Cam 4.0 SARAH incorporates efficient aerodynamics, innovative flight modes and modular interchangeable payloads all in a portable unit that is quickly deployable, the SARAH system provides unprecedented centimeter precision level aerial 3-D imagery intelligence.

In 2017, the Laurel Marine Survey team and Flying-Cam team announce the successful acceptance testing of the Flying-Cam Air Mag Survey Platform. The Flying-Cam SARAH e 4.0 unmanned helicopter was operated in automatic mode from a ship and scanned an area of 40Ha in the Eastern Chinese sea. The magnetic data showed exceptional quality: high precision Cesium Mag sensor augmented by real-time attitude compensation, RTK GPS positioning, and radar altimetry data. Sonar images were used to validate the location in more detail and revealed a sunken ship of 18m by 140m, laying at 32m depth. The ship was identified as most probably the Lisbon Maru, a WW2 Japanese freighter which was sunk on October 1st in 1942.

The Flying-Cam Discovery is the new VTOL drone developed by Flying-Cam featuring more payload and extended flying range. It has also an autopilot to conduct 3-D mission planning and a modular design allowing the use of different types of payloads.

The Flying-Cam Discovery is powered by a turboshaft engine using heavy fuel, jet fuel or military fuel F-44. It has a flying time of two hours and can reach a range of up to 100 km with a maximum payload of 25 kg.

Flying-Cam Discovery is the new VTOL drone developed by Flying-Cam featuring more payload and extended flying range. (Picture source Flying-Cam)