A400M trial demonstrates airborne deployment of uncrewed surface vessel
Kraken Technology Group’s K3 Scout USV positioned alongside an Airbus A400M Atlas at Farnborough International Airshow. (Photo: author)
Kraken Technology Group’s A400M airdrop of a K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel points to a new way for navies to insert USVs into contested waters, bypassing ports and motherships.
Kraken Technology Group, a UK autonomous surface vessel manufacturer that grew out of an offshore powerboat racing background, together with US parachute systems provider Capewell and the Royal Navy (RN), has completed what the companies described as the world’s first extracted-load airdrop of an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) from an A400M military transport aircraft.
During trials conducted under the RN’s Project Beehive, a K3 Scout USV was deployed on Capewell’s Universal Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System (UMCADS) from an altitude of 1,300ft into sea states of up to Sea State 4. Four drops were completed across six working days
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