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2021-01-03

French Navy Gets Additional CAMCOPTER S-100s

Naval Group, on behalf of the French Navy, has acquired for operational use two further CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) with a total of four Unmanned Air Vehicles. Over the next few months the newly acquired CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS will be integrated on the French Navy’s Mistral-class amphibious helicopter carriers (PorteHélicoptères Amphibie – PHA) Tonnerre and Mistral, significantly enhancing the helicopter carrier’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

The acquisition comes after the successful integration of the CAMCOPTER S-100 on the French Navy Mistral-class vessel Dixmude, which was finalised in 2019.

This was the first time in Europe that a rotary wing UAS had been connected to the combat system of an amphibious helicopter carrier.

The acceptance tests of the two systems took place last year with top representatives of the Naval Group and the French Navy in attendance.

The CAMCOPTER S-100 Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS operates day and night and can carry multiple payloads up to a combined weight of 50 kg. Due to its minimal footprint, reliability and airworthiness pedigree, it is ideally suited for maritime operations globally.

Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, said: “After the successful integration on the Dixmude, we are very proud of the confidence the French Navy has in the proven and reliable CAMCOPTER S-100 and we are looking forward to the integration on the Tonnerre and Mistral and their operational deployment.”

LCDR Serge D., UAS programme officer, French Navy, stated: “The S-100 on Mistral-class will be the first operational tactical UAS for the French Navy and this is a major step towards the Mercator plan.”

Porte Hélicoptère Amphibie Maintenance Architect at Naval Group, Philippe V., added: “We participated in the successful factory acceptance test, which was an important milestone for this acquisition, prior to the global integration onboard conducted by Naval Group.”

Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS is an operationally proven capability for military and civilian applications. The VTOL UAS requires no prepared area or supporting equipment to enable launch and recovery.

Another huge advantage is that it operates under adverse weather conditions, with a beyond line-of-sight capability out to 200 km / 108 nm, over land and sea. Its carbon fibre and titanium fuselage provides capacity for a wide range of payload/endurance combinations up to a service ceiling of 5,500 m / 18,000 ft. The CAMCOPTER S-100 carries a 34-kg / 75-lbs payload up to 10 hours.

In addition to its standard GPS waypoint or manual navigation, the S-100 can operate in environments where GPS is not available, with missions planned and controlled via a simple point-and-click graphical user interface.

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