Royal Navy Launches Strike Drones From HMS Queen Elizabeth
The Royal Navy launched Nyan Maritime one-way strike drones from HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time in North Atlantic trials in mid-October.
Featured photo: HMS Queen Elizabeth at sea (file photo). Photo: Royal Navy, Wikimedia Commons, Open Government Licence.
LONDON — The Royal Navy launched strike drones from an aircraft carrier for the first time during North Atlantic trials in mid-October, flying British-made Nyan Maritime one-way drones from HMS Queen Elizabeth, Naval News reported, publishing a Royal Navy release. The drones are made in Wiltshire by Callen-Lenz.
The hybrid air wing
The trials support what the navy calls a hybrid carrier air wing, mixing crewed aircraft and drones to extend the carrier’s reach and keep personnel further from danger. They showed how autonomous strike systems could work alongside F-35B jets, according to the release. The drone’s first launch at sea came earlier this year from the experimentation ship XV Patrick Blackett.
A second first
The carrier also hosted Heavy Lift Challenge 3, in which a Tekever AR5 fixed-wing uncrewed aircraft operated from a carrier for the first time, the release said. The AR5 has a 7-meter wingspan and can carry 80 kilograms for logistics and operational missions.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said a major determinant of military power now is “who can innovate fastest.”
What to watch
Assessment: These were trials, not a fielded capability. The next indicator is whether the navy orders one-way drones for carrier deployments and how it integrates them with F-35B operations.
