Longer range/endurance UAVs make a different to the tyranny of distance when it comes down to ISR.
For full situational awareness, governments and their armed forces are electing to perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions across international waters and borders with uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), and this is most evident in the Asia Pacific region. More broadly, there is a significant and growing interest in uncrewed systems across the maritime domain incorporation varying levels of technology.
In June 2024 Australia received its first Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton from the U.S. to enhance the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) maritime surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities in the tense Indo-Pacific region. The maritime version of the Global Hawk high-altitude long endurance (HALE) UAV will complement the RAAF’s Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft fleet and allow them to undertake around-the-clock maritime surveillance operations. The MQ-4C would enable RAAF to closely monitor the People Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) activities in the region from the safety of a higher altitude.
Both Japan and South Korea operate the RQ-4B Global Hawk HALE UAV which uses an array of sensors to perform long-duration persistent surveillance operations in support of a range of missions. Although designed primarily for overland ISR, the first RQ-4B’s 18-hour trans-Pacific delivery flight to Japan showed its maritime surveillance potential.
The Royal Australian Navy also operates a unit of Schiebel S-100 Camcopter rotary-wing UAVs and the system has been adopted by Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand.
Schiebel has developed its increased long-endurance, heavy-lift-capable Camcopter S-300 rotary-wing UAS which is capable of carrying up to 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of payloads. The UAS is designed for maritime intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, such as submarine detection and early threat warning of missiles, as well as resupply missions requiring heavy lift over long distances in complex terrain. Schiebel has been awarded a contract for the S-300 UAS with an advanced sensor suite for the South Korean Navy.
At the same General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced that it was collaborating with Lockheed Martin to provide Net-Enabled Weapons (NEW) capability for the MQ-9B SeaGuardian medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAS to bolster its ISTAR capability for the aircraft. Small numbers of the MQ-9B have been acquired by Japan, and India which recently lost one during a training flight over the sea. The Indian Navy and Air Force also operate the IAI Heron 1 MALE UAV and the Searcher Mk II tactical UAV. Another Heron 1 operator is the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) along with the Elbit Hermes 450 MALE UAV and Aeronautics Orbiter-4 tactical UAV. The Singapore Armed Forces are modernising across its intelligence domain to increase its military edge over other Southeast Asian countries.
In September the Thai navy ordered the Israeli Hermes 900 with delivery by 2025. They would be used to patrol the country’s maritime sovereignty, shipping routes and assist in sea rescue operations. The Thai army is already equipped with the Hermes 450 as well as the Searcher II. Thailand is also one of the few operators of the Aeronautics Dominator XP MALE platform which is an uncrewed development of the crewed Diamond DA42 MPP Guardian twin-engine light aircraft that the Royal Thai Air Force also operates in the ELINT and ISR roles.
China’s UAVs gain markets
In September Myanmar’s defence minister was invited to Beijing to visit leading companies and observe military drone and other Chinese air defence technologies. He discussed potential technical cooperation between these companies and the Myanmar regime. The Myanmar Air Force already operates the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) CH-3 Rainbow uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
China is Pakistan’s main defence partner with its services employing a large amount of Chinese equipment that includes CASC CH-3 UCAV, and CH-4 and Chengdu Wing Loong 1 MALE UAVs, although the Pakistan Air Force also operates the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 armed tactical UAV and Akinci MALE.
China is operating an increasing variety of uncrewed air vehicles in the maritime surveillance role. Earlier this year, the Japan Air Self-Defence Force intercepted a Chinese Chengdu Wing Loong 1 MALE over the Sea of China while the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Harbin BZK-005 MALEs are regularly tracked flying in Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ).
The Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) is conducting trials of the CASC CH-4B Male to operated alongside its Aeronautics Aerostar tactical UAVs and In 2019, Indonesia purchased three BZK-005s to patrol the sea routes between its outlying islands.
However, it is the potential deployment of uncrewed systems ‘motherships’ in the region that is moving along at pace. China has launched a twin-hull drone carrier vessel which is approximately one-third the size of the recently launched Type-003 Fujian aircraft carrier, and may prove to be an important asset in terms of conducting long-range surveillance missions far away from the Chinese mainland. In 2020 the Chinese publication Science of Military Strategy claimed that shipborne UAVs could carry out a variety of tasks including long-range and large area reconnaissance and early warning, as well as long-range precision strikes and the deployment of carrier-based UAS will bring revolutionary changes to naval operations. The stealthy GJ-11 Sharp Sword UCAV is designed to be capable of taking off autonomously from the PLAN’s new Type 076 amphibious assault ship. China is also developing several unmanned helicopters to operate from its first amphibious assault carriers, the Type 075 Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) including the AR-2000. The Type 075s have made recent forays into the Western Pacific, including the waters near Japan.
China however, is not alone in developing the concept of drone motherships. Singapore’s Multi Role Combat Vessels (MRCV) planned to enter service at the end of the decade to replace the Republic of Singapore Navy’s current corvettes, will act as motherships operating a variety of uncrewed air, surface and underwater systems. The Republic of Korea’s navy has commissioned two Dokdo Class helicopter carriers from which UAVs are able to operate and part of its Navy 2045 Vision, a programme to develop light aircraft carrier, known as LPX-II has been launched. In the Korean Ministry of National Defense White Paper published in 2023, the importance of Manned-Umanned Teaming (MUM-T) was highlighted and it would be likely that the new carrier’s air group could include UAVs including the Korean Unmanned System-Loyal Wingman (KUS-LW).
Next year the Royal Navy (RN) aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales will lead a carrier force for a seven-month deployment to the Pacific. At the end of 2023, the Prince of Wales was involved in trials with a Mojave, a version of the U.S. Army’s General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle. The Mojave is a short take-off and landing (STOL) UAV designed to fill the roles a reconnaissance, close air support and armed overwatch capable of being used as a carrier-based UAV for naval operations.
In May 2023, the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD)announced it would be acquiring a Mojave system for a seven-month trial period aboard its Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. In November 2023, during the WESTLANT 23 deployment to the United States, a single Mojave and its associated control station were embarked aboard HMS Prince of Wales. On 15 November, 120 miles off the east coast of the United States, the Mojave took off from the starboard quarter towards the port bow rather than the centreline of the flight-deck of the carrier without the use of the ski-jump. The demonstration was witnessed by naval representative from Australia, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States. It then completed a number of circuits and approaches before landing back on the deck un-arrested. Beyond being the first time Mojave has performed a trial from a carrier, this also marked the first time an uncrewed system of this weight class had operated from an aircraft carrier outside the United States.
The RN had previously operated the hand-launched AeroVironment Puma and the Peregrine designed for short-range maritime surveillance operations. Secured under the Future Tactical Uncrewed Air System (FTUAS) programme, the RN selected the Schiebel S-100 Camcopter as the basis for Peregrine. However, the Mojave is a larger and more complex system. The RN’s Second Sea Lord, Vice Admiral Martin Connell said that the Mojave trials on board the Prince of Wales would unlock the longer-term potential of the aircraft carrier by integrating uncrewed systems with crewed aircraft.
Looking ahead in the region, under the AUKUS partnership, Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. successfully tested an AI-enabled uncrewed aerial vehicle capable of disabling or destroying ground targets, through a combination of autonomous flight and AI sensing. The trial, part of the March 2024 Project Convergence exercise, marked the first real-time military use of these combined technologies, with seamless data exchange among the nations highlighting future interoperability. One such system deployed during the Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technology (RAAIT) trials in the U.S., a map-based software application helped a UK RedKite UAV detect opposing force locations using on-the-fly adjustments based on the data collected, while another UAV provided detailed imagery as confirmation. The information was passed to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) where a AI officer provided human oversight prior to triggering an Australian GEP XT-8 multi-role long-range UAV to perform a simulated strike.
by David Oliver
