by Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
Ocean launched drone flight has been exploding across the US Navy fleet in what could almost be explained as the dawn of a new era in unmanned systems, something which is now expanding its mission scope, migrating to a broader range of warships and multiplying across a multi-national group of allies in the Pacific.
Sailors on a South Korean amphibious warship recently launched a Gray Eagle STOL (Short-Take-Off-and-Landing) drone from a ship-deck for an ocean-to-shore demonstration flight. The General Atomics Gray Eagle, in service now for many years, has more recently been configured for vertical take-off-and-landing, something which is now expanding to include the Republic of Korea.
“Working with our GA-ASI’s in-country partner, Hanwha Aerospace, Gray Eagle STOL launched from the South Korean navy’s amphibious landing ship Dokdo underway at sea off the coast of Pohang, South Korea. The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) then flew to Pohang Navy Airfield and landed normally,” an essay from General Atomics says.
The GA essay describes the Gray Eagle STOL as the “only medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft of its kind with the ability to operate from large-deck warships such as amphibious ships and aircraft carriers, as well as short and unimproved fields on land.”
Surveillance drones have been operational for decades, as the first Predators date back to KOSOVO in 1999, yet landing an unmanned system from a moving carrier or warship at sea has long been in development with the US Navy. Sure enough, this capability has been here and is only expanding
“The demo highlighted the versatility of STOL aboard a warship, in the Dokdo, designed not for fixed-wing aircraft but solely for helicopters. Gray Eagle STOL’s flight proves that navies can add significant new capability without costly major modifications to their existing warships,” said South Korean Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Yang Yong-mo, said in the General Atomics essay.
While developing the technological ability to launch drones from carriers required years of research, experimentation and coordination, the ability to do this is essentially here with platforms such as the MQ-25 Stingray refueler and X-47B demonstrator years ago. Engineers spent years working on how to ensure a successful flight path and landing of a drone on a carrier, as it required an ability to accommodate different sea states, wind-conditions and as-needed landing adjustments. Since this time, the Navy has developed and deployed a wide range of vertical take-off-and-landing drones such as the helicopter-like Fire Scout now operating on destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships. The ability to take off without needing a long fixed runway afforded by a carrier represented a huge breakthrough in the realm of maritime unmanned aviation, and it is something now expanding to include more US allies.
It makes great strategic sense that the US and its allies such as South Korea would seek to expand ocean-launched ISR across the Pacific theater, given its vast expanse and the often cited tactical challenges associated with what’s called the “tyranny of distance.”
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics& Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
