Australia and Pacific Rim confirmed as key strategic building block for expansion of pioneering SKELDAR V-200 rotary UAV VTOL in land and sea domains; partnership meetings timed to coincide with RIMPAC 2018.
Australia and Pacific Rim confirmed as key strategic building block for expansion of pioneering SKELDAR V-200 rotary UAV VTOL in land and sea domains; partnership meetings timed to coincide with RIMPAC 2018.
DATE 16th JULY 2018: FARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL AIRSHOW, UK:
UMS SKELDAR, the world-class provider of rotary Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) solutions and avionics software, is accelerating its plans for Australia to become its Pacific Rim base, following a classified tour including meetings in Canberra and partners with bases in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The confirmation of UMS SKELDAR’s commitment, described as a “logical extension of the company’s intention to secure a demo base in Australia” was announced during Farnborough International Airshow 2018 (16-22 July 2018), and timed to coincide with *Rim of the Pacific exercise RIMPAC 2018, where 25,000 naval personnel and 52 ships and submarines from 26 countries are currently participating.
Australia has been designated as the launchpad for the newly configured next generation NATO-compliant V-200, boasting more than five hours flight duration, enhancements to the unmatched heavy fuel two-stroke engine in tandem with considerable airframe weight reduction.
Partnered with Australian companies including Adelaide-based Orbital Corporation and Melbourne-based Sentient Vision Systems, the company stresses its interoperability across any number of naval platforms and systems.
The new SKELDAR V-200 is proposed for tactical maritime roles with world navies, including the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) for deployment of potentially 24 UAVs on board the 12 new Sea 1180 offshore patrol vessels (OPV) to be built by Lürssen as designer and prime contractor of the $3.6bn contract in South and Western Australia.
“As part of the requirements of the RAN Maritime Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (MTUAS) tender, the SKELDAR V-200 is unmatched in its ability to provide the OPVs with an embedded, eye in the sky ISR capability to enhance their ability to perform primary and secondary missions,” according to David Willems, Head of Business Development at UMS SKELDAR, the UAV joint venture between Sweden’s Saab and UMS AERO of Switzerland, “With a track record worldwide, including the Indian and Pacific Oceans, specifically Horn of Africa and Singapore, the APAC and Pacific Rim region provides a major opportunity for us to offer both land and maritime variants of the newly modified SKELDAR V-200.”
Concluded UMS SKELDAR CEO, Axel Cavalli-Björkman:
“The Pacific Rim is unquestionably a top priority for our business. Our strategy of developing core market opportunities with military and civilian blue light customers is supported by our key differentiators. Already unmatched in heavy fuel engine and maintenance regimes, now we are able to increase our advantage in terms of endurance and improved engine management system, with increased range of sensors including ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging), the only proven airborne persistent wide area maritime search system.”
UMS SKELDAR will be exhibiting at Land Forces Australia, in Adelaide, Australia 4-6 September 2018 together with Saab Australia, to showcase the SKELDAR V-200.
Note: *
The biennial RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise and includes rehearsal scenarios that cover disaster relief, amphibious operations, anti-piracy work, missile shots, mine clearance, maritime security, anti-submarine warfare and air defense operations – many of these demonstrating the suitability of interoperable tactical aerial platforms such as rotary UAVs.