In recent weeks, there has been repeated speculation in expert circles that the integration of helicopter drones on the German Navy’s corvettes is facing major problems. Now, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed that the project to deliver a naval drone system for “reconnaissance and identification in the maritime operational area” (AImEG) has been canceled.
The reason given was that contractually agreed milestones had not been reached.
The Sea Falcon helicopter drone, manufacturer name UMS Skeldar V-200, was to be used on the corvettes. The drone enables the ships to conduct long-range reconnaissance over a radius of more than one hundred kilometers, according to a Bundeswehr website. This “eye in the sky” ideally complements the corvettes’ main weapon, the long-range sea and land target guided missile RBS15 Mk3.
The manufacturing company UMS Skeldar is now fully owned by the Swedish defense group Saab, after the latter acquired the shares of the Swiss co-owner.
During the development phase, the Navy initially had a complete unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with two helicopter drones plus a control station with two consoles and an equipment kit in its inventory, according to the Bundeswehr website. The control console is installed in the operations center. The equipment kit includes connections for the console and take-off and landing sensors for the flight deck of the corvettes. According to aviation circles, however, a Sea Falcon is said to have crashed last year.
After the upstream development phase, the Navy was supposed to receive three Sea Falcon drone systems for its corvettes from this year, according to the original plans. The Bundeswehr Procurement Office BAAINBw announced the conclusion of a corresponding contract with the main contractor, Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH (ESG), at the end of 2021. This was intended to implement the AImEG project to expand the corvettes’ imaging reconnaissance capabilities.
The ESG led a consortium consisting of the manufacturer and supplier of the aircraft, UMS Skeldar Sweden, the manufacturer of the corvette, NVL B.V. & Co. KG, and the aviation electronics producer CUONICS.
In April 2021, the Bundestag committees for defense and budget gave the green light for the project as part of a 25 million euro proposal. The project was estimated at a total of 80.3 million euros at the time. The majority of 52.6 million euros was earmarked for development in the pilot phase until 2023. The procurement of the systems and their integration on board the corvettes in 2024 and 2025 was estimated at 27.7 million euros at the time.
It is unclear what will happen next for the Navy. The BAAINBw, which is responsible for armaments, has no further information on this, as it said when asked. The obvious options would be to test a different drone system or wait for an improved version of the Sea Falcon. As a representative of the Sea Falcon manufacturer recently said on the sidelines of the Eurosatory trade fair in Paris, the helicopter drone is constantly being developed further.
The German defense company Diehl also applied for the new marine UAS at the time, together with the Austrian company Schiebel and its Camcopter. However, the team around ESG and UMS Skeldar ultimately prevailed after Diehl and Schiebel did not submit a bid. The challenge was the Navy’s requirement to offer a powerful helicopter drone for the use of kerosene fuel.
The aviation group Airbus Helicopters is also dealing with the topic of drones for naval ships. The company is developing the VSR700 helicopter drone, based on a light helicopter, for the French Navy. The UAS, which is powered by a diesel engine like the V-200, has a significantly higher take-off weight and a higher payload.
Photo: Bundeswehr / Jana Neumann
Source: hartpunkt;