Iran is in the process of initial field testing of a new drone aircraft carrier — the Shahid Bagheri — a converted container ship.
<p>Featuring an angled flight deck and ski-jump ramp, the ship seems well-equipped to launch large drones. Two additional drone-carrier vessels, the Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Roudaki, have also been spotted during sea trials alongside this latest member of the Iranian Shahed drone-carrier fleet.</p> <p>The objective seems to enable Iran to extend its drone attack capabilities across the Gulf, which is likely to concern Israel, the United States, and their allies. Nevertheless, the drone-carrier vessels do not appear to possess advanced defense systems, nor are they accompanied by destroyers or equivalent support. As such, they may be highly vulnerable to drone attacks.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <p>In 2004, the UK launched the Watchkeeper drone program, led by Thales UK and Elbit Systems through their joint venture, U-TacS. The program was contracted for £700 million ($ 852 million), with the first flight expected in 2006. It centered around the Elbit Hermes 450 drone with substantial modifications. The 2006 date slipped significantly as costs climbed through 2010, and authorization for military training only happened in 2014. However, the rollout for operational use was still delayed. During those initial tests, one in seven drones crashed in circumstances often associated with bad weather — not good for a drone designed and intended for all-weather operations. The trials were moved to locations with better weather conditions.</p> <p>Initially featuring limited surveillance and target acquisition capabilities, the Watchkeeper WK450 drone has been enhanced with upgrades that include synthetic aperture radar and ground-moving target indication, in addition to its original electro-optical/infrared sensor.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="600" height="340" src="https://coordinates.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-Watchkeeper-flight.jpg" alt="Photo:" class="wp-image-108719" srcset="https://coordinates.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-Watchkeeper-flight.jpg 600w, https://www.gpsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-Watchkeeper-flight-300x170.jpg 300w, https://www.gpsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-Watchkeeper-flight-245x139.jpg 245w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Watchkeeper flight in April 2013. (Photo: UK MOD)</figcaption></figure> <p>The drone was used for English Channel patrol and for some uncontested airspace surveillance and targeting missions in Afghanistan. It was most recently fielded in NATO exercises in Estonia, flying in different weather conditions to verify airspace deconfliction and interoperability with Estonian air traffic control.</p> <p>Unfortunately, program delays, which have sometimes been associated with over 1000 additional UK requirements during the development cycle, difficulties in training, cost growth from the original £700 to an ultimate program cost of £1.35 billion ($ 1.64 billion), along with obsolescence brought on by the years of delays — these have all now doomed the Watchkeeper drone program to retirement, which the UK recently announced.</p> <p>Watchkeeper drones were eventually priced at $ 5.2 million each for a quantity of 45 to 54, for a task which today’s drones, costing maybe $ 30 thousand, are much more capable. A fate also perhaps brought on by the fantastic rate of evolution for today’s commercial drones versus the well-trodden, somewhat lengthy path of mil-spec development programs.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <p>The US Air Force has established an advanced technology test area at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) — the Autonomy, Data and AI Experimentation Proving Ground. Near Earth Autonomy (NEA) recently worked with Eglin to demonstrate the capabilities of its Griff 135 multicopter drone and its autonomous avoidance capability.</p> <p>NEA has developed avoidance and autonomous navigation capability, which allows its drones to fly beyond visual lines of sight by knowing their location with respect to the environment around them. With optical and electronic sensors, the drone builds a point-cloud image of its surroundings on a separate computer from that which manages its autonomous behavior. The two systems interact to provide autonomous flight, including obstacle avoidance, take-off and landing, and, in several cases, the delivery of special cargo, such as blood and medical samples.</p> <p>In the case of the Eglin tests, the objective was for the Griff 135 to interact with a Service-Malory TRV-150 cargo drone operated by the 413th Flight Test Squadron. Now, we have a four-rotor cargo drone capable of carrying 150 lb of cargo and an eight-foot quadcopter capable of destroying each other in a potential collision. First, they are independent; one is manually operated, and the other has an autonomous capability. But who knows if it can see, detect, and avoid another fast-moving drone in the same airspace? So, the flight test had the two crossing paths to verify, detect, and avoid by NEA drone. Two flight sessions and the Griff-135 did a good job seeing, computing and executing multiple avoidance maneuvers.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="600" height="340" src="https://coordinates.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-NAE-autonomous-drone.jpg" alt="Photo:" class="wp-image-108720" srcset="https://coordinates.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-NAE-autonomous-drone.jpg 600w, https://www.gpsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-NAE-autonomous-drone-300x170.jpg 300w, https://www.gpsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/600x340-NAE-autonomous-drone-245x139.jpg 245w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NAE UAV. (Photo: NAE) </figcaption></figure> <p>NAE was awarded a NASA Small Business Innovation Research grant for its autonomous aircraft inspection technology. Before a flight departs, one of the crew members inspects the aircraft, checking flight controls, lift surfaces, and tires for any damage or issues that could impact the upcoming flight or need maintenance later. Engineering personnel also conduct visual inspections, though perhaps not for every flight, to frequently verify the aircraft’s integrity.</p> <p>NAE has collaborated with NASA and Boeing to create autonomous software that allows their drone to conduct a thorough visual inspection of aircraft. The FAA mandates an inspection card outlining the requirements and the specific path around the aircraft for inspections. NAE has integrated these requirements into its drone, resulting in an automated inspection process that captures a high volume of detailed photographs from every part of the aircraft. This automated system completes inspections in approximately 30 minutes, in contrast to manual inspections, which can take up to four hours. The system is reportedly progressing toward the commercialization stage.</p> <p><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gpsworld.com/updates-on-unmanned-systems/">Key updates in unmanned systems</a> first appeared on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gpsworld.com">GPS World</a>.</p></p>
