Seamos - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Germany

Seamos is a vertical take-off (VTOL) sea reconnaissance and location drone developed by Dornier GmbH. The Seamos naval drone, equipped with two counter rotating rotors, is a computer controlled vertical take-off and landing drone equipped with state-of-the-art avionics. The primary mission will be as a reconnaissance drone operating from ships and boats. The maximum take-off weight is over 1000kg with a payload maximum of nearly 150kg. The payloads will be maritime surveillance and target acquisition equipment.

The German contribution to NATO Project Group 35 covered a sequence of tests carried out in 1991 in which the Seamos flight vehicle demonstrated the automatic take-off and landing procedure on a moving platform ship deck simulator. The platform had a small landing area and the movement simulated the movement of a ship. Realistic deck motion sequences were provided by the simulator software.

DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Munich) was awarded a contract in early 1996 covering the first phase of advancement of the Seamos technology demonstrator. The contract was awarded by the Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung (BWB), the German Office of Defence Technology and Procurement and has been followed up by a contract definition including test flights. The development work is being carried out by the DaimlerChrysler subsidiary, Dornier GmbH at Friedrichshafen.

Successful demonstrations of automatic take-off and landings on a moving platform have been completed. The first test flights began in Meldorf in 1999. The test flights involve: automatic take-off and landings, automatic navigation, entry of targets during the mission, real-time data transmission and on-board sensor control.

In 2002, the German Government decided to terminate funding of the system.

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