Naval Group has successfully carried out a large-scale at-sea demonstration of its drone mission management solution at the Troia naval base in Portugal.
The demonstration saw the use of an uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) and two uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV).
The solution was integrated with the combat management system (CMS).
Testing was conducted in partnership with project coordinator AMN (Autoridade Maritima Nacional de Portugal), ECA Group, Edisoft, and others.
Together, all the three drones were deployed from a Portuguese Navy offshore patrol vessel (OPV), known as the ‘NRP Setubal’ near the Troia coast in Portugal, and from a land base.
The operational scenarios in the demonstrations included offering support to a migrant boat and preventing drug trafficking.
Naval Group project technical manager Diane Mulard said: “We are very proud to see our solution working in a real environment.
“Despite the health context, we found solutions for remote de-risking and were able to cope with the difficulties during the face-to-face trials.
“We are proud to offer a scalable solution that can be adapted to different capabilities and types of missions and provides a real operational advantage for the navies.”
Demonstrations were performed under the European collaborative project Coordination of Maritime Assets for Persistent and Systematic Surveillance (COMPASS 2020).
The project seeks to improve the EU’s maritime surveillance capabilities and external borders by enhancing situational awareness.
Naval Group Europe R&D Collaborative Development Vanessa director Cauvin said: “We hope that COMPASS2020 will pave the way for other European collaborative projects in this field with the quality partners we have collaborated with in the consortium.”
