WWW.UVONLINE.COM VOLUME 21 NUMBER 3 JUNE/JULY 2016
UNMANNED VEHICLES UV View from above UAV insurers talk tactics
HARBOUR PATROL THE BOMB SQUAD MATERIAL NEEDS Unmanned port security EOD UGV progress Composites at sea
UV-03-16_OFC.indd 1 5/18/2016 4:11:20 PM UV-03-16_IFC.indd 2 5/18/2016 9:59:06 AM CONTENTS
Editor Richard Thomas 3 EDITORIAL COMMENT FEATURE [email protected] Risk assessment 26 COMBINED FORCE Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2591 Maritime exploration has long depended on Asia-Pacific Editor 4 NEWS vessels of impeccable structure and material Gordon Arthur [email protected] • Legacy Black Hawks go unmanned selection to keep sailors alive. While some
Staff Reporters • R obotic option for future US Army kit onboard personnel have become redundant Beth Maundrill • Irish navy OPVs poised for MCM AUV capability with the advent of remotely operated [email protected] Grant Turnbull • ACTUV becomes Sea Hunter and autonomous systems, UMVs are still [email protected] • More laser designators for Shadow constrained by the properties of the Contributors • UMS Skeldar gets flight approval across Norway substances used in their construction. Claire Apthorp, Pieter Bastiaans, • India needs more MALEs Angus Batey, Gerrard Cowan, Peter Donaldson, Rory Jackson, FEATURE Neelam Mathews, Jon Rosamond, FEATURE 33 AS-PAC PLAYBACK Andrew White 8 ASSET PROTECTION Fresh from attendance at defence shows in Production and Circulation Manager David Hurst Insuring a UAS can be very similar to getting India, Malaysia and Singapore, UV examines [email protected] cover for any other aviation platform, some new regional designs. Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2579 depending on what the operator intends to Sub-editors INTERVIEW Adam Wakeling do and the type of policy they require. However, Jenny Wright there are some key areas of difference, not 40 HIGH-FLYING FUNDS Graphic Designer least regarding the perceived growth potential UAVs have become a major media focus over Kam Bains of this burgeoning sector. the last decade, whether through their military Commercial Manager use in Afghanistan or the work being carried out Christian Letessier [email protected] FEATURE by Silicon Valley giants. Now, the sector is +44 (0)20 3179 2577 14 WATCHERS IN THE WATER increasingly attracting the attention of investors. Editor-in-Chief Searching for the Holy Grail of complete Gerrard Cowan talks to Andrew Chanin, CEO of Tony Skinner security for port operations, authorities are industry specialist PureFunds. Head of Publishing Sales turning their gaze to what the unmanned Mike Wild industry can contribute in a layered, Managing Director system-of-systems approach that Darren Lake complements existing capabilities. Chairman Nick Prest
Subscriptions FEATURE Annual rates start at £65 20 SAFER STREETS Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2592 Email: [email protected] Use of IEDs in recent terrorist attacks in Europe Web: shop.shephardmedia.com illustrates the importance of teams and Unmanned Vehicles is published six technology deployed to neutralise this threat. times per year – by The Shephard Press Ltd, Saville Mews, 30 Saville Road, Top of the list of critical equipment for such London, W4 5HG, UK. Subscription rates missions is the UGV, which can be deployed to start at £65. Air Business Ltd is acting as mailing agent. Articles and information find, fix and neutralise suspect devices while contained in this publication are the operators remain at a safe tactical distance. Page 14 copyright of the Shephard Press Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers. No responsibility can be accepted for loss of or damage to uncommissioned photographs or manuscripts.
Print by Buxton Press, Derbyshire, UK Front cover: A UAV’s-eye view of the streets of San Francisco. (Photo: UV picture library) © The Shephard Press Ltd, 2016. ISSN 1351-3478
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UV-03-16_p02_Elbit.indd 2 5/18/2016 10:01:06 AM COMMENT
Richard Thomas, Editor Risk assessment
You know an industry has hit the big time If you’re flying a expansive of unmanned shows is headed. and is being taken seriously when the nice $5,000 UAS If anyone managed to catch the intro insurers move in and start competing and outro videos on our show news site to quote a price to cover your little over an event at www.shephardmedia.com, or indeed commercial UAS business. (one that you have been the general theme of the content, one It marks the transition from prospective paid to cover, I might add) could not help but notice the emphasis opportunity to an established market place being placed on commercial operations and the point at which operators have to it might pay to provide some and businesses. start taking into account the (perceived) sort of insurable and legal more mundane administrative tasks that coverage. Commercial opportunity come with the job. Whether in the guise of manufacturers, It is perhaps a journalistically less operators, maintenance, training, testing, explored aspect of the immense boom in the vast majority of discussion for better commercial operations, but the need for and worse was civil (in both senses of the lawyers and insurers to properly cover physical damage to persons or property, the word). What is interesting to note is how aerial platforms and their operators in the only the foolhardy would ignore the risks. If some normally defence-focused OEMs are event of a mishap is clear and present. you’re looking to take your nice new work creating commercial business units, solely Speaking to one vendor at AUVSI’s van out on its first job, or indeed, a new focused on non-military functions and Xponential in New Orleans, I learned how the biplane out to dust some crops, it is part applications. UAS law firms found themselves both in and parcel of the game in making sure It might also be worth a mention of just great demand from the myriad of start-ups, that the paperwork is all in order. how many of these commercial operators but also slightly perplexed as to why the And as with many other forms of will be back for the show, and others like interest in obtaining a little bit of insurance insurance for manned transport it, in 2017. Although the potential size of wasn’t totally universal. There are apparently (commercial or otherwise) a quote isn’t the market has been measured in the operators out there that just don’t think they simply a number pulled out of fresh air, billions of dollars, likely future costs (either need it, or else just looking to wing it. but the result of determining risk based of a financial or administrative nature), on background information on the and the sheer number of NewCos could Winging it? operator, company or typical uses, to well push some to the wall. Put it this way, if you’re flying a nice $5,000 name but a few. ▪ UAS over an event (one that you have been Fortunately, UV has written about this paid to cover, I might add, none of this very topic just a few pages from here so, In the next issue rogue operator stuff) it might pay to provide given that this is the beginning, middle some sort of insurable and legal coverage and end when it comes to publications for • Maritime UAS in the event of a gimbal dropping off onto a the unmanned world, claiming ignorance • Navigation systems parked Bentley or some other suitably of the fact is longer an option. • Tactical UAS precious target. And while we are talking about All joking aside, operating a UAS in an Xponential, it might be an opportune • Payloads area where an accident could result in time to talk about where this most
WWW.UVONLINE.COM VOLUME 21 NUMBER 3 JUNE/JULY 2016 UNMANNED VEHICLES 3
UV-03-16_p03_Comment.indd 3 5/18/2016 4:33:51 PM NEWS Legacy Black Hawks go unmanned
integrated onto ‘Alpha’ variants or the sharing with different Black Hawk current UH-60M. customers what is possible and how this Roll-out of the first optionally piloted technology can, pretty easily, be inserted UH-60A prototype – which Sikorsky into the aircraft,’ he explained to UV. bought from the US Army as an excess ‘The army is interested in improving the defence article – will be followed by safety of the platform, addressing first flight and a test programme obsolescence issues that keep the starting next year, said Chris Van platform relevant in the future fight all the Buiten, VP of technology and way to 2070,’ said Van Buiten. ‘They want innovation at the company. to do more with less, and this falls in line ‘We have shifted our focus to with that.’ making a prototype of the real Supporting the technology development, product,’ he continued. ‘If you can Sikorsky continues to fly a modified S-76 it Sikorsky is pushing show that you can convert [a UH-60A], calls the Sikorsky Autonomy Research optionally manned you can convert any Black Hawk to an Aircraft, or SARA. That platform has now capabilities. optionally piloted aircraft.’ accumulated over 100 flight hours and (Photo: Sikorsky) The Alpha variant has what is Sikorsky pilots have gained a significant known as a mixing unit, which amount of optionally piloted experience Sikorsky is on track to roll out the first takes the input from the pilot’s flight on the programme. Two systems UH-60A Black Hawk prototype fitted with controls and provides output, through integration labs are also in operation in optionally piloted capabilities later this mechanical linkages, to the main and tail Stratford, Connecticut, where pilots can year, company officials have confirmed. It rotors. Sikorsky will replace this with a evaluate the optionally piloted technology marks the first time that a legacy aircraft, computer-controlled set of electro- and understand the safety improvements with no fly-by-wire capability, has been mechanical actuators that will enable it enables. modified with a conversion ‘kit’ that autonomous flight. ‘The idea in wartime operations of doing enables the helicopter to fly with just one This could pave the way for the troop assaults using the flight crew hours pilot, or even without any pilots in an technology to be inserted into the current and then transitioning to doing unmanned role. UH-60M variant being built for the US autonomous logistics and flying even Unlike previous unmanned Black Hawk Army and other nations, as well as more hours – it’s a way of doing more trials, the prototype will demonstrate that updating older models. ‘It’s an exciting with less,’ Van Buiten concluded. optionally piloted capabilities can be study that we are doing, and we’re By Grant Turnbull, New Orleans
Robotic option for future US Army kit Future procurements of vehicles or not, it’s unmanned,’ he explained. ‘We Asked how unmanned systems fit into aircraft by the US Army will likely include are not looking specifically for a separate this concept, Perkins said that everything the requirement that they have optionally capability like a robot to do this, we are being done in the army related back to manned or robotic capabilities, the looking at when you procure systems in the army operating concept. Even though general responsible for defining the general that everything has the ability to a fully autonomous system, such as a future direction of the army has said. be part of manned-unmanned teaming or vehicle, is still several years away from Speaking to UV at the AUVSI Xponential autonomous system swarms.’ being operational, there are already event, Gen David Perkins, Commanding Part of TRADOC’s role is responsibility efforts under way to turn this into reality. General of US Army Training and Doctrine for the US Army’s long-term vision, trying ‘You’re seeing increments in the Command (TRADOC), said the army to describe what future the service faces systems we currently have. We are would, in the future, require a platform and coming up with ‘first order looking at taking platforms that we have that could be manned or unmanned capabilities’. It released the army now and asking: “Can you robotise ‘depending on the situation’. operating concept in 2014 titled ‘Win in a them?” We are confirming or denying ‘If you have a situation where you need Complex World’, a strategic framework for concepts,’ he said. that cognitive ability, you could man it. If the rest of the service to work towards. By Grant Turnbull, New Orleans
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UV-03-16_p05_GA-ASI.indd 5 5/19/2016 9:44:43 AM NEWS More laser designators for Shadow The US Army wants its unmanned linked with the AH-64 Apache, in The RQ-7B has seen extensive operational use. aircraft fleet to have a greater role on what is known as manned- (Photo: US Army) the battlefield, including the vital job unmanned teaming. of laser-designating targets so that As well as adding new payloads, manned platforms – such as the the US Army is also upgrading AH-64 Apache – can unleash their or adding new technologies as guided munitions from safer distances part of Shadow v2, including but with the same effect. Type 1 encryption protection on The service is expected to award a video and control data links, contract this fiscal year for additional STANAG 4586-compliant software laser designators (LDs) for the RQ-7B and an endurance increase from Shadow, offering up the contract on a six to nine hours. competitive basis to two sources Despite this, the army still has a annually until FY2018, when all funded requirement for more LD units. units should have been procured. ‘We’ve made an unfunded There is a chance, however, that requirement request to the army, as this procurement could run into a L-3 Wescam, which could provide its we do every year, saying that if you delay due to ‘language in the appropriations MX-10 EO/IR sensor. would like to finish off having every bill’, stating that the Secretary of the Army The latter company won the competition Shadow with a laser designator, we are had to validate the LD strategy before in 2012 to be the second source of LD short 66 payloads,’ Burgess said. awarding the contract. payloads, and its MX-10 was integrated and By Grant Turnbull, New Orleans ‘Which is fine, because we have a qualified on the Shadow. This year, several competition strategy and we are going to government-owned, contractor-operated give that to the army, and let them validate it Shadows will deploy to theatre with the India needs more MALEs before we award the contract,’ said Lt Col sensor, said Burgess. India’s MoD will issue an RfI within Tory Burgess, Shadow UAS product manager Currently, two out of four RQ-7B Shadow a month to solve a pressing at Program Executive Office Aviation. aircraft in a ‘system’ have a laser requirement for MALE UAVs, as The strategy will see two companies designator incorporated into their EO/IR revealed by AVM Sandeep Singh, compete against each other every year, for sensor. Influencing that decision has been the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Assistant three years, to provide LD units to the the army’s Aviation Restructure Initiative, Chief of Air Staff (Plans), at a Delhi army. These are Stark Aerospace, which which divested the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior seminar on 19 April. supplies the POP300D that is already armed scout helicopter, and calls instead The RfI is likely to go to Indian fitted to half the army’s Shadow fleet, and for the RQ-7B to be forward-deployed and companies including Alpha Design, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra Defence Systems and Tata, who could UMS Skeldar gets flight approval across Norway collaborate with OEMs such as BAE Systems, Elbit Systems, IAI or General Norway has granted UMS Skeldar the right at UMS Skeldar, said that the trials Atomics, for unarmed MALEs. An to conduct commercial operations demonstrated handling, avoidance and RfP is expected in six months. countrywide, excluding certain restricted flight capabilities working around complex Approximately 100 MALEs are zones such as airports and urban areas. environments, such as utilities. needed for the IAF and Indian Army. This approval extends to beyond visual line Meanwhile, prospects in North America Singh told UV the ‘urgent requirement’ of sight operations. will likely have to wait until next year at the for MALEs are those ‘in the Following a series of demonstration earliest for UMS Skeldar, as it focuses on a non-weaponised class’. flights in collaboration with Nordic near-term, sales-driven programme. Foucard The reason why India is issuing this Unmanned, UMS Skeldar and its in-country said that although there were potential tender is because of a more than two- partner will be able to perform missions programmes of interest for the company, year delay in the indigenous Rustom II such as infrastructure monitoring and these were not the focus for this year. ‘Our MALE. Singh said: ‘Our requirements survey, and officials also say there could products would fit, but it takes investment. It are large… When the indigenous be potential for similar agreements in is very competitive and we think we can get design comes up, we will have other European territories in future. sales [instead] in Asia-Pacific, Latin America adequate numbers for it.’ Speaking to UV, Carl Foucard, deputy and the Middle East,’ he said. By Neelam Mathews, Delhi head of business development and sales By Richard Thomas, New Orleans
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UV-03-16_p07_Tekever.indd 7 5/18/2016 10:02:40 AM INSURANCE ASSET PROTECTION
Insuring a UAS can be very similar to getting cover for any other Commercial operators have to consider insurance issues when aviation platform, carrying out flights. (All photos: UV picture library) depending on what the
operator intends to do he commercial UAS sector has Growth sector and the type of policy rapidly expanded over the past few This has led to growth in the industry that they require. However, T years. Plans announced by Amazon insures these systems. US-based Transport and other large companies to deploy Risk Management is a major player in the there are some key areas unmanned systems for deliveries and aviation insurance market. The company’s of difference, not least other activities are just the tip of the founder and president, Terry Miller, told UV iceberg. Globally, UAS are being used for that his firm is also a large insurer of aerial regarding the perceived everything from wedding photography to film production, which naturally led the growth potential of this construction work. Not only are companies company into the unmanned market about springing up that specialise in operating five years ago, with film work representing burgeoning sector. the systems, but firms in other sectors are one of the major areas of work for UAS. By Gerrard Cowan acquiring UAS to operate by themselves. Since that time, the firm has insured
8 UNMANNED VEHICLES JUNE/JULY 2016 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 3 WWW.UVONLINE.COM
UV-03-16_p08-12_UAS_Insurance.indd 8 5/18/2016 10:04:26 AM INSURANCE
around 5,000 UAS made by 25 putting someone on a tall ladder. We see of photography, or anything involving events manufacturers worldwide. UAS now course aerial photography companies. with large numbers of bystanders. represents about one-fifth of the company’s Hollywood is using a lot of drones. But we ‘They’re going to ask specific questions gross revenue. also have farmers using drones to check with respect to how you’re doing that and Miller compared the growth of the sector the irrigation of their fields… there’s just so they will often put an endorsement on the to the rise of the personal computer, in many people that want to have access to policy that prohibits coverage or overflight terms of the speed of its development. some kind of an aviation asset to use within of large public gatherings, just to let you Indeed, many of the people who were their business.’ know “we don’t want to cover that risk”.’ involved in the PC business are now heavily The insurance policies required for Chris Arnold, a broker at aviation involved in the UAS industry, he said. operating UAS are very similar to the types insurance broker Sutton James, echoed ‘They have told me – they’re partners and of policies needed if you were to operate a this point. Underwriters were concerned clients of mine – that they see this as fixed-wing aircraft commercially, experts about UAS being used around large groups parallel to that type of technology,’ he said. say. An operator would generally take out of people, he explained, where third-party ‘And I would agree with that.’ third-party liability coverage and sometimes exposure was heightened. Other companies in the insurance sector would take out hull cover to protect their ‘The thing that worries them the most is have noted the growth potential. ‘In many own UAV, particularly if they are operating people operating at events around large ways, the sector is similar to smartphone expensive equipment. crowds,’ he said. ‘That’s the big thing that technology, in that it undergoes significant scares the insurance companies, that a lot change every six months to a year,’ Standard assessment of the smaller operators never even think said Grant Goldsmith, president of Miller said there were three basic criteria about. They just think that they have a UAV Overwatch, a US broker that is part of that the company applied when assessing so they’re going to go out and film music Avalon Risk Management. risk. ‘Does the aircraft operator or pilot, the festivals and film weddings, and those are ‘Something today that you wouldn’t even aircraft type and the aircraft use all make the things that really do scare the consider using a drone for becomes sense? If those three components fit, then insurance companies.’ ubiquitous a year from now,’ he said. ‘I think it’s probably something that we would Arnold said that a lot of insurance there’s many people that are using a drone insure… if any of those three pieces do not companies will try to find out the nature of in their business or that want to use a fit, we would decline.’ the work when they carry out their initial drone in their business.’ Goldsmith said that underwriters will underwriting, ‘and if that’s a big part of your Overwatch focuses on emerging risk determine in their questions what the plan and if you plan to do a lot of events markets. It does a lot of war zone-related exposure might be to having a collision with and things of that nature, then that will work, as well as insuring other types of people, particularly where operators are affect how they underwrite the risk’. In fact, emerging technologies, and it is mainly describing their work as aerial or wedding some may not offer insurance at all. focused on the US market. It had been doing UAS work on a case-by-case basis up Sizeable platforms used for commercial operations, such as monitoring or event photography, can weigh several kilograms and cost thousands of dollars. until 2010, when it decided to make a concerted effort in the market. Like the industry itself, the insurance side was quite small at that stage. ‘When we started looking at it in 2010, it was very underserved,’ he told UV. ‘In 2010, you could buy some drone insurance from London markets, but at that time the minimum premium was $10,000, sort of in that range… a smaller buyer in the US would really need the pricing at around $1,000 for using a small drone in conjunction with their business. So that’s why we knew that we would have to help the markets develop some products stateside to fit that pricing point.’ The company was working with UAS users from a wide range of sectors, Goldsmith said. ‘We see a lot of aerial mapping, GIS [geographic information system], we see commercial roofing companies that want to survey the roof of your house rather than
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UV-03-16_p08-12_UAS_Insurance.indd 9 5/18/2016 1:07:25 PM INSURANCE
‘They might say: “This is a risk, we don’t judgements regarding how they set the He also identified another major want to be involved in something like this, premiums, until they build up this difference, related to the fact that the so we’re just not going to offer a quote”.’ database,’ he said. ‘But you can’t rush unmanned nature of the systems could Mark Dombroff is a partner at US law experience – it just takes time.’ lead to riskier behaviour. ‘These systems firm Dentons, which has a large aviation Another key difference with insuring UAS are more or less disposable aviation and practice and identified UAS as an area surrounds the nature of the operators as such, pilots and operators may take of potential growth about three years themselves. Unlike in other types of greater risk with them than they would if ORBITER 3 ago. Dentons is counsel to the UAS aviation, an operator is not necessarily an their actual life was on the line, if they Small Tactical UAS Insurance Association. experienced aviator – he or she could just were flying themselves.’ ‘The mission of the UAS Insurance as easily be an entrepreneur looking to Association is to inform, to educate and to break into a new market. Privacy protection give a voice to the… UAS insurance industry ‘[They are] entrepreneurs, they’re start- An area that is largely unique to UAS is the and where appropriate advocate on their ups, they’re people who are entering the concerns surrounding privacy, said James behalf,’ he said. regulated world of aviation in all of its risks Gadbury, COO of UK-based UAV-Protect. His for the first time,’ Dombroff said. ‘As a firm offers a privacy product, designed to Risky business result, they need to be informed and cover a company in the event that it was There are a number of key differences educated as to not only the nature of the pulled into a lawsuit because someone between UAS and other forms of aviation risks, but the nature of the way that they deemed it to be trespassing or infringing that insurers need to get grips with, can mitigate those risks, both through their privacy. This was the type of thing that Dombroff said. For a start, the general contracts and through insurance.’ no one really thinks about in the manned aviation insurance market has been There were different levels to this aviation sector, he said. around for a long time, meaning insurers challenge, he said, with giant corporations ‘I think the difference is that drones at have a very large statistical database by at one end of the spectrum and wedding the moment typically fly at between which they can assess the risk – they photographers or property companies at 0-500ft, so it’s the kind of proximity of Ahead of Time know what the risks are and they know the other. ‘And then you’ve got a lot of them, it’s the fact that people can see how to set the premiums. This is not the people who just see a business them… a manned aircraft is going to be case with UAS, which is a new market that opportunity… the start-up costs are not sufficiently high enough in the sky to not lacks the same statistical database. very high.’ have anyone worrying too much about it.’ ‘You’ve got a lot of first-time operators, Goldsmith agreed: ‘The most unique UAV-Protect is part of Prospect AEROSTAR Tactical UAS first-time users and first-time factor to flying a UAS is that the pilot in Insurance Brokers. Prospect has been manufacturers, so really it’s an issue of most cases is not going to be a qualified involved with UAS for a couple of years assessing who is the manufacturer, who is commercial pilot in the traditional sense of now, Gadbury said, but set up UAV-Protect the operator and making some having gone to flight school.’ at the beginning of 2015 as its vehicle for targeting the sector. Since then the DOMINATOR Medium Altitude Insurers have to weigh up each request on individual merit and calculate the risks involved. business has grown quite rapidly. Sometimes, this means insurance is not offered. Long Endurance UAS Insurance is very international in outlook and the UAS part of it is no exception. For example, UAV-Protect has seen its business grow in a number of countries outside the UK, including Canada, Ireland and Italy, Gadbury said. UAV-Protect will work with a broker in each of these ORBITER 2 countries who sends submissions for the Mini UAS company to quote. It is also growing its interests in the US, where it is partnered with All Risks. ‘We’re looking to form relationships with other brokers and start to build up a kind of web of different brokers who are providing it locally,’ Gadbury explained. Likewise, the UAS Insurance Association has an international feel to its membership, Dombroff said. The association’s founding See us at board includes Germany-based Allianz, for example, along with a number of other major EUROSATORY ‘16 Israel Pavilion, Booth #D763 names in the insurance sector, including Ahead of Time
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UV-03-16_p08-12_UAS_Insurance.indd 10 5/18/2016 10:04:29 AM ORBITER 3 Small Tactical UAS
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UV-03-16_p08-12_UAS_Insurance.indd 11 5/18/2016 10:04:29 AM INSURANCE
AIG and Transport Risk Management. This has also moved in the other direction, with a number of board members based in the US but overseeing significant operations in other countries. ‘In some instances, probably in all instances, they have US operations, but their corporate headquarters may not be in the US. Allianz Aviation is based in Germany, but they have a very large US aviation operation. AIG Aviation is based in the US but they have a very large European, London-based operation,’ he added. Not every operator at this stage believes it is necessary to get insurance. Sutton James has seen a lot of interest in people who are looking for quotes, but ‘not necessarily a whole lot of people that are really buying insurance as of yet’, said Arnold. ‘We see a lot of people that aren’t so sure if they need it or not. Their thought process is that these drones are so small that they’re not going to do that much damage. I’ve heard that from numerous Many operators are not sure whether they need to obtain the necessary coverage, say insurers. people.’ Part of the reason for this may be that ‘people are just in the planning stages at this point trying to figure out if this is a aviation market and they’re going to goes wrong they’ve got insurance and viable business’. ultimately write less of it,’ he argued. ‘And you’re protected.’ However, he said that the volume of it’s going to put that risk back on the desk The insurance industry is keenly aware of interest was picking up and that people of insurance generalists… those the potential for growth of the commercial are at least starting to question it and look generalists without specific aviation UAS business. Dombroff compared it to the and see what’s available. Arnold expects experience are going to have to struggle to fixed-wing sector, which has developed over to see the insurance side growing in the decide how to write and price this product.’ the course of more than a century, since the coming years and that while many people Wright brothers flew their aircraft in 1903. did not currently think they needed it, this Affordable costs He said that on a scale of one to a hundred, would change as claims were made. The cost of an insurance policy clearly in terms of maturity, the general aviation ‘People are really going to realise that depends on a number of different factors. industry was probably close to or at 100. these [UAS] can do a lot more damage Still, Dombroff insisted that UAS policies ‘There’s always advances being made, than they think,’ he said. were affordable. ‘Insurance is not going to – but it’s a very mature industry. If you look Goldsmith agreed that the insurance and should not – represent a barrier to entry at UAS, however, the drone industry, business still had to catch up with the size into the commercial use of UAS. I think it’s a certainly the commercial drone industry, of the market as a whole. ‘I would say necessity if you want to be a responsible it’s probably at the 15 or 20 level. So it’s we’re still a little bit on the cusp. I still go operator, but economically I don’t believe really in its infancy. It’s sort of in to a lot of trade shows where people are that the cost of insurance should represent kindergarten or first grade, as compared surprised that they can buy insurance at a barrier to entering the market.’ to being in graduate school.’ all. They’re still operating under the notion He said that people who hired a UAS Dombroff pointed out that while the that the risk is uninsurable. So we’re trying company would expect it to have technology has been around for a long to get the message out.’ appropriate insurance cover. ‘It’s no time, with militaries of many nations flying Still, he was confident the market would different to the homeowner who has UAS for years in the defence context, the grow. He envisions a future in which their roof redone – they have a house technology has only been commercialised companies can buy UAS insurance as an built, they have contractors on their relatively recently. add-on to a general business commercial property, or the chemical company that ‘It’s on that commercial side that we’re insurance product, without having to go to has somebody come in to do repairs,’ he still in elementary school,’ he said. ‘But it’s a specialist aviation market. said. ‘You want people on your property growing very quickly because it’s not going ‘That’s going to do two things. It’s going who are not only good at what they do but to take 113 years to get to higher levels of to pull that risk really from the special financially responsible, so if something maturity and growth.’ ▪
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UV-03-16_p13_Dubai.indd 13 5/18/2016 10:10:23 AM INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION Watchers in the water
Searching for the Holy Grail of complete security for port operations, authorities are turning their gaze to what the unmanned industry can contribute in a layered, system-of-systems approach that complements existing capabilities. By Richard Thomas
he improving technology of USVs, the waves, or an AUV or UUV operating development at Liquid Robotics, described UUVs and AUVs in terms of around the breakwaters monitoring the the role that they could play in the overall T endurance, payloads and data harbour bottom, these systems have a role strategic security plan as being the ‘outer dissemination has pushed such platforms to play. layer’. The company is working with an into new markets and opportunities, Companies such as Bluefin Robotics unnamed port authority to explore how its assisted by a growing understanding (and its parent General Dynamics), Liquid platforms, such as the SV3 Wave Glider, among port authorities in what they bring Robotics, Saab and VideoRay, to name but could operate and thinks that the sector in to the party. a few, are all investing time and resources general holds a promising future. Whether it is a USV tacking back and in exploring what commercial potential It is a theme that has been oft repeated forth along a pre-planned perimeter route maritime unmanned vessels have to offer. by those working in the unmanned keeping a watch out for the small Speaking to UV at AUVSI’s Xponential industry, which in terms of maturity is still signatures that betray the presence of exhibition in New Orleans, Dan Middleton, in its relative technological adolescence, something or someone lurking beneath EVP of global sales and business particularly with land and marine-based
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The Wave Glider could operate as the first Bluefin-12S, Bluefin-9M, Bluefin-9, HAUV The HUGIN and MUNIN AUVs specialise in line of detection in a combined approach and SandShark. While all systems listed monitoring and hydrography and are also to port and harbour security. (Photo: Liquid Robotics) could perform a role in ensuring port capable of search and recovery, particularly security, the 9M, 9 and HAUV would find the former platform. Defence applications themselves operating closest to shore. for the HUGIN include MCM, environmental At the top end of Bluefin’s products in assessment and ISR. The MUNIN, with its terms of endurance are the 12D and 12S, more compact design, allows for operations which are able to maintain themselves on from smaller launch vessels, although in not station for up to 30 hours (for the D model) as capable a platform for defence and at a time. Mobility for the family is most security purposes as its larger cousin. often provided by ducted thrusters. According to information from Kongsberg, According to company information, the 9 HUGIN payloads can include: a high- and 9M variants typically perform a variety resolution interferometric synthetic aperture of roles including: inshore survey; sonar; an EM 2040 multi-beam echo environmental protection and monitoring; sounder; a side-scan sonar; a sub-bottom mine countermeasures; port and harbour profiler; a still image camera; and turbidity security; unexploded ordnance disposal; and methane sensors. Kongsberg states rapid environmental assessment and ISR. that one of the key characteristics of the The 9M has a length of 2.5m (compared to HUGIN payload system is that all sensors 4.93m for the larger Bluefin-21) and is sized can operate together and the time-stamped to operate in the tight confines of commercial data makes accurate geo-referencing easier. or military ports and harbours. A ten-hour ROVs can also be fitted with sensor endurance is achievable when manoeuvring capabilities, such as Kongsberg’s EM 3002 at 3kt, although this reduces when the multi-beam echo sounder, which when platform reaches its top speed of around 5kt. installed surface-facing can scan for threats Multiple payload functions are possible, attached to ship hulls and conversely assess including a side-scan sonar (Edge 2205), potential risks and boost port security by multi-beam echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler mapping harbour and port beds. and EO camera, covering roles ranging from There is also a perception in the marine MCM to hydrographic survey. industry that unmanned solutions will The HAUV, the smallest vehicle in the remove the person from the equation, and in portfolio, covers roles such as ship hull the most basic sense, cost him or her their inspection. Equipped with a high-resolution job. This need not be the case, according to imaging sonar, it can search out Rand LeBouvier, strategic communications imperfections or faults on a vessel in a director at Bluefin Robotics, speaking to UV fraction of the time it would take a diver to at Xponential 2016. complete the same task. Using this sonar, it ‘A seaport due to accept a cruise ship can survey with minimal prior knowledge, will send divers along the pier before it and although capable of conducting arrives and this is not always 100% reliable autonomous tasks, it can be switched to and it is dangerous. Our Mk 19 [HAUV] manual control for closer inspections by the system can inspect those pier pilings very operator should something of interest come quickly and efficiently and provide real-time to light. data and make changes if something has systems, when compared to the maturity been placed. of manned alternatives. Functional family ‘We are not replacing the divers – we are Nevertheless, as Middleton said, larger Kongsberg Maritime, through its subsidiary keeping them out of harm’s way. That’s the USVs and AUVs can suit the role of first Hydroid, has a family of AUVs capable of key, you don’t want to put those guys out of line of defence or inshore watchman functioning in port and near-port business. We need to convey the message to capably, and civil maritime authorities are environments, mapping and monitoring them that they can do ten jobs instead of at the very least keeping a close eye on designated areas. The REMUS 100, 600 one job [using unmanned systems] with industrial developments. and 6000 models offer differing levels of those divers and make more money.’ capability and over 250 of them have been Leveraging experience delivered to civil and military customers Commercial approach Bluefin Robotics is leveraging years of around the world. Functions include aiding Speaking to UV earlier, officials from Liquid experience operating its family of AUVs maritime security, hydrography and marine Robotics said that for port security, whether such as the Bluefin-21, Bluefin-12D, research. it was underwater or on the surface, it
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ROVs are commonly used to inspect ship hulls, a process that some think could be expanded to reduce dry-dock periods. (Image: Bluefin Robotics)
was important to provide ‘layers of The company was also ‘actively engaged’ there is global interest in deploying USVs to detection’ for site defence. To that end, a with the US and other navies and coast monitor coastal areas and maritime fleet of Wave Glider USVs could be guards in providing new submarine borders for illegal drug or human configured ‘in a picket fence formation’, detection capabilities. trafficking. Targets of interest here include holding station and silently listening outside A spokesperson told UV: ‘In the past, high-speed surface vessels such as the port and away from the background this level of persistent, long-duration “Panga” boats and semi-submersibles.’ noise created by merchant shipping traffic. coverage was not cost-effective or feasible Discussing the system-of-systems In this way, real-time early warning of using manned assets such as ships, approach with UV, officials at Liquid suspicious vessels and communication to planes or subs. The majority of Robotics said that offshore USV the authorities for interdiction could be applications we see at this time for surveillance can be combined with satellite enabled. Platforms such as the Wave Glider underwater detection are offshore military data to identify threats or suspicious can operate for months at a time missions for ASW surveillance. We are activity at the outer edge of a perimeter. monitoring the seas. seeing a new trend emerge, however, where The platform can collect traffic data over
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time (thanks to the enduring advantage that was ‘immediately applicable’ and time-consuming and expensive process for unmanned systems have over manned that it was now a matter ‘of talking to merchant shipping companies. By using an capabilities) for analysis, which is then the right people’. AUV or ROV to perform the inspection while integrated with radar, communications and An advantage for the civilian market is the ship is in the water, even unloading other inputs to optimise the deployment or that militaries have already tested many of containers in port, would be of significant response of inshore assets such as boats, the same platforms in port security and value to the ship owners. aircraft or onshore personnel. harbour survey roles. It is just a case of The benefit is more than just a map of ‘Through this approach, one can offload shifting the approach from a defence the ship hull – that certainly has value – the dull and dangerous tasks of offshore perspective into a commercial one. but there are also requirements for ships to surveillance to unmanned systems. This There are also unexplored cost savings periodically undergo thorough inspection, reduces the risks to personnel, reduces coming to light, according to Bluefin, in and this usually means dry docking. This is operational costs and increases the other uses such as vessel hull inspection, a an expensive process not only in and of efficiencies of the overall mission. Missions can now deploy robots to patrol day or night, through all [types of] weather to listen, see and alert coast guards, navies and homeland defence to send high-value manned assets for interdiction,’ VOLZ SERVOS said the spokesperson. The use of unmanned assets was Manufacturer of actuators therefore changing the manner in which the world addresses maritime since 1983 surveillance, monitoring and observation, the official added. ‘Wave Gliders can stay at sea for months or up to a year, collecting and communicating data in greater densities and resolutions over vast coverage areas and over seasons... This level of long-duration persistence is not economically practical or safe with manned systems. A new frontier is emerging for ocean robotics that will positively change maritime surveillance. ‘Today the Wave Glider carries sensor payloads including towed acoustic sensors for surface and subsurface vessel detection, and deck-mounted payloads, including an tested for up to AIS receiver to help identify legitimate vessel 4,000 hours of operation activity and an HD camera for close-range visual identification.’
Business models Bluefin Robotics is meanwhile pushing ahead in securing customers in the commercial market, using a combination of models such as fee-for-service, franchising DA15-N and direct sale to companies currently performing harbour inspection work. This is primarily focused on the HAUV, although officials did say that all its systems could be of use in securing a port, such as the SandShark AUV surveying the littorals. The representatives told UV that although WWW.VOLZ-SERVOS.COM Weight 30g/1oz it was not an industry it had to date penetrated, it had technology
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excess of what is needed for port operations, and a 450m umbilical cord which can be extended to 1,100m when using a fibre-optic pack. Vectored thrust, high optical sensor fidelity and a 14kg payload capacity make this platform well suited to a range of operations, as the RNZN can testify. Other naval operators of ROVs and AUVs for port security include the US Coast Guard (USCG) and the Department of Homeland Security, tasked with port protection. Operating VideoRay’s ROVs and unmanned systems at a number of ports since 2003, the USCG has used the platforms for ship and harbour inspections, according to the US-based manufacturer. In US trials, the VideoRay Pro 4 would attach floatation markers to a suspicious object, enabling it to be dealt with later by dive teams. (Photo: VideoRay) VideoRay is among the most active distributors of ROVs around the word, itself but also in terms of the lost time that reconnaissance and security duties. In a with more than 3,500 delivered to the ship is out of commission. release issued at the time, a senior naval customers. ‘So the model, the fee for that type of officer was quoted as saying that this type Additionally, and contrary to much of the business, may actually end up being of ROV had been used for ‘security suspicion laid at the ROV’s smaller than they would end up paying if reconnaissance for harbour inspections, anthropomorphic feet, they have been used you look holistically, and not just at threats hull inspections, mine location and to complement, rather than replace, like limpet mines attached to the hull but disposal’, in addition to operations further manned dive teams in providing also ship husbandry.’ out to sea and in inland lakes and other information ahead of a deployment. water bodies. Military sense Another officer was quoted in the Navy trials Unmanned systems are also being used by same release stating that ‘remote The US Navy also trialled the VideoRay Pro militaries, eager to protect their sleek grey- technologies are highly valued for the 4 ROV last year to counter the risks posed hulled assets from unwanted attention, for range of options they provide’, and that by waterborne improvised explosive devices harbour security. since its entry into service the RNZN (WBIEDs). According to the company, a US In May, personnel from the Royal New has utilised ‘an observation-class’ ROV Central Command UOR saw two initiatives Zealand Navy (RNZN) conducted further to conduct a variety of operations, sponsored to this end. VideoRay was training exercises with a Saab Seaeye including hull inspections. The Falcon has chosen for the Joint Improvised Device Falcon, regularly used by the service for a 300m depth rating, obviously far in Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) initiatives
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through the Space and Naval Warfare piers quickly and efficiently while providing and coastal site security, ‘near-shore Center Pacific. real-time data to operators. detection of quiet electric submersible The programmes’ assessment phase ‘[General Dynamics] has a very good idea vehicles remains extremely difficult’, ‘aims to identify mid-water and swimmer for how they would approach port protection especially in high-traffic areas. threats attempting to enter a security in a holistic way that incorporates not just While widespread use of USVs, AUVs and perimeter through a USV/ROV combination’, unmanned systems but above- and below- ROVs providing or adding to port security, states the company. The next stage of the water sensors as well, to provide a very, certainly in the commercial and civil sector, project is to develop a mine neutralisation very robust package. It is ready to go; it’s has not been witnessed to date, there are capability, also known as Submerged Threat just a matter of finding the right person to nevertheless signs that both suppliers and Identification – Neutralization (STID-N). acquire it. customers are beginning to see the When equipped for this role, VideoRay ‘There is a market for it and it doesn’t possibilities in having assets patrolling, just says that in addition to the original have to be expensive. It could be a regional a few cool feet beneath the waves. configuration of the Pro 4, a manipulator capability rather than one installed from Both sides of the industry are learning arm is fitted to the ROV’s skid, allowing the port to port. So, for example, a US Coast how they can apply unmanned thinking platform to carry both payload and Guard area commander could have them and capabilities to domains that previously floatation package to the target location. and then deploy quickly. It’s sort of inimical were generally confined to static sensors In 2015, Bluefin Robotics announced to making money but it is the right and manned (sea and land) patrols. that it had delivered the fourth and fifth stewardship way to do it.’ ‘There is a market and interest in ‘ship hull inspection systems’ to the USN, particular from some of the oil-producing which comprises two HAUV vehicles and Crystal ball challenges countries and countries that depend support equipment, to develop search That’s not to say there are not details that entirely on commerce via the sea. The capabilities for harbour sea floors and still need to be ironed out. Officials at challenge now is not developing the other underwater infrastructure. Liquid Robotics say that despite the technology, it is putting it in place and LeBouvier said that the system, known as capabilities USV and UUV platforms have developing the CONOPS to make it work,’ the above-mentioned Mk19, can inspect in adding to a layered approach to port concluded LeBouvier. ▪
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Use of IEDs in recent terrorist attacks in Europe illustrates the importance of teams and technology deployed to neutralise this threat. Top of the list of critical equipment for such missions is the UGV, which can be deployed to find, fix and neutralise suspect devices while operators remain at a safe tactical distance. By Andrew White
roop drawdowns from lengthy campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan T have done little to reduce the threat of the IED, which remains one of the primary weapons of choice of insurgent combatants and terrorists worldwide. Recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels mimicked tactics, techniques and
A Canadian Armed Forces EOD operator in a bomb suit approaches the site of a simulated IED during an exercise. (Photo: Canadian Armed Forces)
procedures adopted by insurgent cells operating in the Middle East and Southwest Asia over the past decade or so, which saw vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIEDs) and/or suicide vest IEDs (SVIEDs) used to gain entry to a building or compound, followed by multiple shooters, also equipped with SVIEDs and disruptors, bomb containment chambers, ‘In addition, modernisation of police assault rifles. EOD suits and blankets, explosive detectors forces is also expected to have a positive and search mirrors. impact on the demand for EOD equipment Report rules ‘Defence forces’ modernisation during the forecast period. [An] increasing According to the EOD equipment market programmes are one of the major factors number of instances of terrorist attacks is report published by Transparency Market responsible for the growth of the EOD also expected to boost the demand for Research in February, the sector is equipment market. Governments from [EOD] equipment globally. expected to be worth approximately $8.56 various countries are opting for EOD ‘Africa and the Middle East have billion by 2023, up from $5.74 billion in equipment as a result of the increasing experienced a number of terrorist 2014. This report describes a system-of- bomb attacks. Moreover, defence attacks recently, especially from outfits systems approach currently being organisations across the globe are such as Boko Haram and Daesh. These undertaken by specialist EOD units, with focusing on providing defence forces with factors in combination are expected to UGVs providing a critical element alongside modern equipment so as to counter any impact the growth of the EOD equipment portable x-ray systems, projected water form of intrusion,’ the report reads. market positively during the forecast
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period from 2015 to 2023,’ the report solutions execute a wide range of missions phase was initiated towards the end concludes. including IED defeat, EOD, chemical, of 2015. According to Harris, which has been biological, radiological, nuclear and The effort, under the control of the manufacturing UGVs for EOD for the past explosives (CBRNE) detection, ISR and MoD’s Special Projects Search and two decades, the market continues to hazardous materials (HAZMAT) clearance,’ Countermeasures team, has already witness some exciting developments. the spokesperson said, highlighting future completed its concept phase and reached Speaking to UV, a company spokesperson plans to develop robotics platforms with an initial gate decision with a procurement explained: ‘Our customers have developed sensing that protect warfighters while budget which could reach as high as £80 a keen sense of what is needed to offering improved situation awareness. ‘This million ($115 million). successfully fulfil their missions based on is imperative to ensure that warfighters and A total of 56 UGVs are expected to be long deployments and thousands of hours decision-makers have the crucial procured with options for an additional 30, in active operations. Sending men and functionality and information they need.’ should the operational tempo demand it. women into harm’s way is not ideal if Specifications, announced in the avoidable, which is why robotic technology UK operations publication of the MoD’s system is increasingly deployed on high-risk One of the most important programmes requirement document in August, include missions to protect lives.’ currently under way is the UK MoD’s a 70kg platform measuring 40cm in width. The spokesperson went on to say that Project Starter which will replace the Industry sources told UV that an the company had developed technologies Wheelbarrow family of systems which have evaluation process will be initiated by the that ‘extend the reach of the warfighter’, been in operational use since the 1970s end of Q2 2016 with a contract award giving robots human-like capabilities and for homeland security operations in confirmed by Q3 2017. Elements from maximising operator safety with reliable, Northern Ireland. across the UK armed forces are expecting to large-platform EOD UGVs that can serve First unveiled in March 2014, Project receive the technology in 2018 and beyond. multiple roles. Starter represents a category C Participating companies are understood to ‘Much like other areas, robotic programme to procure a new EOD remote- include Cobham, ECA Robotics, Endeavor programmes recognise that it is not feasible controlled vehicle (RCV) for use on Robotics (formerly iRobot), Harris, Qinetiq, to field single-use products. Harris robotic contingent operations. An assessment Reamda and Remotec.
A remote-controlled PackBot operated by personnel from the Virginia Army National Guard’s 753rd EOD Company investigates a suspicious vehicle during training. (Photo: WVNG)
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Cobham’s Telemax UGV is capable of capability to be operated independently, in Officials from the company explained to reaching targets 2.4m in height and has pairs or as a whole, depending on the UV how the UGVs had been optimised for been designed with EOD and HAZMAT ground being covered and operational ‘interventions in complex and narrow missions in mind, according to company parameters. An intelligent control system, areas’, making them suitable for rapid- officials. The vehicle relies upon a four- integrated into the platform and GCS, also reaction duties in wider internal security track running gear, allowing it to handle configures the UGV’s tracks to cope with and counter-terror operations on board gradients as steep as 45° in elevation as particular situations. The UGV, which has a platforms including aircraft, trains, buses well as surmount of obstacles up to 500cm top speed between 4km/h and 10km/h and coaches. high and trenches of 60cm in width. dependent upon configuration, also Available in ‘E’ (EOD and CIED) and Describing a basic CONOPS for the includes a balance indication sensor to ‘C’ (CBRN) configurations, the Iguana can Telemax, which could see it deployed in prevent it from toppling. be fitted with manipulator arms and cooperation with a larger mothership-style ‘These features make it easier for the payloads for battle damage/risk EOD platform, a spokesperson for Cobham operator to control the vehicle, especially in assessment scenarios. explained: ‘The basic principle of “less is tricky situations such as narrow stairways Meanwhile, industry sources suggested more” applies with special forces, if the and high steps,’ it was explained. The UGV Qinetiq’s Talon UGV is also likely to situation involves working in confined can be integrated with a Tool Centre Point participate in Project Starter, with the spaces. In all cases where the big EOD controller with either a gripper or disruptor platform’s modularity allowing it to conduct robot cannot be used, its little brother for handling and neutralisation of IEDs, a range of operations ranging from provides that vital distance between mines and bombs. standard military missions through to the bomb disposal engineer and the HAZMAT, first response and counter-terror. explosive device (IED, EOD or bomb). It Robot reptile The Talon can be reconfigured to a ‘V’ can mean the difference between life and ECA Robotics’ Iguana family of UGVs made standard for C4ISR missions, including the death, in aircraft, subways, buses or other its international debut at the DSEI integration of a high-definition video public transport.’ exhibition in London in September 2015. camera and communications Telemax’s four individually articulating Designed for internal security operations, rebroadcasting capability. tracks have been designed to optimise the UGVs can be used for mission sets ‘In military, law enforcement and first mobility in confined spaces, with a including EOD, IED and CBRN tasks. responder applications, these lightweight, tracked vehicles are widely deployed for The Telemax has been designed to work in confined spaces and negotiate difficult terrain. IED and EOD, reconnaissance, (Image: Cobham) communications, CBRN, HAZMAT, security, heavy lift (up to 70kg), defence and rescue missions,’ a company spokesperson explained, describing how the UGV has the capability to climb up and down stairs, and overcome difficult terrain including rock piles and barbed wire, as well as manoeuvre through snow. Endeavor Robotics’ Warrior 710 platform has also been designed with modularity in mind, with a capability to conduct EOD and ISR missions for the provision of real-time intelligence and situation awareness to dismounted and specialist users. The UGV can travel at speeds of nearly 20km/h with capacity to carry up to 70kg in payload over staircases and rough terrain. Roles include EOD detection, route clearance, counter-terror, reconnaissance, building clearance, breaching missions and heavy lifting. The UGV measures 105cm in length and weighs 165kg when fitted with a two-link manipulator arm. The Warrior 710 can also self-recover following a roll, and has proven the ability to overcome 47cm-high vertical obstacles and 45° gradients. It can also conquer 45cm
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water fords. Running on 12 BB-2590/U end-user device, capable of commanding endurance of greater than four hours, Harris batteries, the Warrior 710 has a maximum multiple systems. explained to UV. The platform has a top endurance of ten hours, dependent upon speed of 6km/h and has proven a capability usage, although battery packs can be Battery power to climb stairs and slopes greater than 40° removed and replaced within a minute, The Harris RedHawk T7 IED defeat system as well as traversing lateral slopes of more officials from Endeavor explained. was originally developed for specialist EOD than 30° with a turning circle of 139cm. The On 3 August 2015, the USMC awarded missions, following the US DoD’s Advanced UGV, which also features a self-righting the company a $9.8 million contract to EOD Robotic System interoperability capability, has a horizontal reach of 220cm supply 75 Small UGVs (310 SUGVs) with standards allowing for the integration of and vertical reach of 122cm. Lift capacity is deliveries due to be fulfilled by the end of most accessories including manipulator 113kg in regular configuration and 27kg Q2 2016. arms, disruptors and ISR payloads. when fully extended. Defence sources told UV that the SUGV The UGV, which has an all-up weight of Connectivity to networked systems is via will be used for a variety of EOD mission 23kg, includes a four-channel remote four Ethernet and 24V DC connectors. It sets including vehicle checkpoints, confined initiation system, front and rear cameras also has Picatinny rails for the integration of space searches, persistent observation and four fender-mounted corner cameras accessories including VBIED defeat operations and route clearance, all of which for navigation and a pan/tilt/zoom camera equipment, a remote initiation system, can be conducted in visually obscured mast with 120x zoom capability for ISR, single/dual band MIMO radios, a areas with low or no light, smoke, dust and high-power multiple-input and multiple- manipulator-mounted disruptor payload, airborne debris from explosions and fires. output (MIMO) communications capability non-conductive, wire-cutting gripper and The 310 SUGV is man-portable and and an operator control unit using haptic forklift attachment (with 30kg maximum weighs 14kg. It can be equipped with wide- technology, designed to provide ‘precision capacity). Gripper payloads also feature angle colour and IR cameras, as well as control and human-like dexterity’ across visible or IR lights for overt, discreet and manipulator arms capable of lifting up to multiple mission sets. covert operations. 7kg and multiple disruptor options. The Measuring 47x27x45cm, the UGV also Company officials explained to UV: vehicle is controlled by an Android-based runs on 12 BB-2590 batteries, providing an ‘We are developing modular, expandable explore detect react
® NERVA-LG robotic System increases situation awareness and support all types of missions thanks to integrated semi-autonomous capabilities and a large ERVA LG set of Plug-and-Play Modules: CBRN sensing, C-IED, Robust • Autonomous • Versatile automatic patrolling…
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systems composed of wireless haptic controllers, precision manipulators, advanced ground platforms and accessories that can be adapted for specific mission profiles. ‘The T7 was purposefully designed from the ground up to support the demanding requirements of EOD missions. Its highly intuitive interface makes it very easy to use and includes dynamic force feedback. That is, our controls allow for an operator to get pressure feedback, almost like an extension of your own hand, from the robotic arm that provides unmatched command and control The Iguana UGV is another platform built for operating in tight spaces, and is available in two for sensitive missions. variants, the EOD ‘E’ model and a ‘C’ version for CBRN work. (Photo: ECA Group) ‘Our systems are developed with a multi- functional and open-architecture mindset. threats in line with demands from the was designed from the ground up, based They are capable of incorporating a variety contemporary operating environment. on that feedback to give the bomb tech of attachments that allow our platform to The platform has four track ‘pods’ which community the most advanced technology, support a wide range of missions without replace legacy articulators, while the while at the same time making the system expensive hardware investments,’ the chassis has been upgraded with a greater easier to use and maintain to keep danger spokesperson concluded. lift capacity. Other upgrades include at a distance.’ The company was ready to improvements to system electronics, begin manufacturing vehicles from April. Vehicle-borne threats speed and manoeuvrability enhancements Additionally, Remotec’s Cutlass platform Remotec would not confirm to UV whether it and the introduction of a new operator could be offered up for Project Starter. was participating in the UK tender, although control unit with 3D graphics display and The UGV was specifically designed to it is likely the company will put forward one user interface. reduce the chances of EOD personnel or both of its Andros FX and Cutlass UGV Addressing the media at the launch, conducting the ‘long walk’ out to platforms for the MoD’s programme. On Walt Werner, director of Northrop Grumman neutralise an IED by hand, with further 4 August, it unveiled its latest system in Remotec explained: ‘Bomb squads have preservation of forensic evidence through the F6 family of vehicles. The Andros FX has told us what they need most are more minimised damage to surroundings. been designed to handle specialist VBIED capabilities to counter VBIEDs. Andros FX The vehicle, which measures 130x70x121cm and has an all-up weight of 420kg, can be remotely controlled at ranges out to 1km LoS. The UGV can also be operated in tethered mode out to 500m. Payloads include a rear drive, manipulator- mounted and gripper cameras as well as a 1.8m camera mast. Additionally, the vehicle includes an onboard microphone suite for monitoring of atmospherics and general situation awareness. Running on a 42V lithium-ion battery, Cutlass can operate in a ‘creep’ mode of 0.01m/s or up to 11km/h and can mount kerbs of 300cm and cross gaps of 500cm in width. The platform has a lift capacity of 100kg and has proven its ability to operate across multiple environments, ranging from -20 to 60°C in dust and rain conditions.
Next-generation options However, market trends also suggest a move towards modular systems capable of conducting multiple tasks, with quick
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interchange of mission payloads to reduce The CRS Increment 1 will be required to exercises in collaboration with the overall and through-life costs. conduct a number of mission sets, ranging country’s armed forces expected later this On 18 February, the US DoD released a from surveillance and reconnaissance year. The UGV has been designed for pre-solicitation request for its Common missions in urban and subterranean multiple missions which include demining Robotic System (CRS) following an initial environments to remote detection and and CBRN detection, but can also be fitted market survey conducted in August 2014. recognition (via a man in the loop) of out for communications relay, medevac, According to a system description summary, explosive and non-explosive obstacles and cargo resupply, offensive action, heavy CRS Increment 1 is being considered to subsequent neutralisation or bypass by lifting, UAV hosting, anti-tank and fire- ‘enhance manoeuvre and force protection force elements. fighting operations. for dismounted warfighters’, with the Additional mission requirements call for However, Milrem is also in the process of deployment of a UGV weighing less than remote detection of subterranean avenues developing an EOD capability for THEMIS 11kg (not including payload) in all-up weight of approach to prepare obstacle plans, with the integration of a manipulator arm and commanded by an operator control unit. remote assessment of battle damage and and supporting sensors for CIED missions. According to the DoD, the CRS will subterranean structural integrity and the Additional consideration is being given to comprise a ‘highly mobile and modular need to remotely place unattended ground cooperation between the UGV and UAVs for system capable of being reconfigured for sensors in an area of interest. the identification of IED threats further multiple mission roles by adding or afield. Options could see the THEMIS removing sensors, modules, mission Baltic system hosting, launching and recovering UAVs payloads and/or subsystems’. Further afield, Estonian company Milrem such as rotary-wing platforms. Payloads include engineer, infantry, CBRN has also responded to multi-mission The threat of IEDs, mines and roadside and EOD configurations, dependent upon requirements from the user community with bombs does not appear to be reducing in mission profiles, with manipulator arms, the introduction of its Tracked Hybrid the contemporary operating environment, sensors and mission-specific cameras. Modular Infantry System (THEMIS) at the with the tactical, operational and strategic Additionally, the UGV platform should be Singapore Air Show in February. The importance of EOD teams expected to future-proof and capable of integrating next- double-tracked vehicle is propelled by a continue into the near-, medium- and generation payloads, as yet unidentified in hybrid electric/diesel engine, with the long-term future. this particular solicitation, as and when they ability to operate in remote-controlled and Therefore, supporting EOD UGVs (with become available. The UGV itself, described semi-autonomous modes, and the option of modular capabilities to conduct multiple as the ‘mobility base unit’, will also have a using pre-set navigational waypoints or a mission sets) look set to prove a popular, mobility platform radio subsystem, controls, ‘follow-on’ capability. cost-effective and efficient solution for cameras and manipulator arm. According The platform has already conducted armed forces seeking a next-generation to DoD sources, an RfP will be issued in Q1 cold-weather trials in Estonia, with further robotic capability. of 2017. ▪ ‘The CRS Increment 1 system will operate in all types of operations and provide protective manoeuvre for soldiers and marines for dismounted assault, and will be employed in all environments to include asymmetrical and military operations in support of conventional war, explosive hazard detection, combating terrorism, peace enforcement and peacekeeping operations,’ the DoD explained. ‘The warfighter must possess a superior capability to detect and confirm the presence of threats when the tactical unit commander suspects the presence or a high possibility of a threat. In addition, CRS Increment 1 must be able to locate and identify IEDs and booby traps such as side-charge and remotely detonated mines. Furthermore, dismounted warfighters must be capable of operating and quickly transitioning without pause across the full range of military operations,’ it was detailed.
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Maritime exploration has long he importance of materials science Materials must also resist corrosion and and engineering to UAS is well biofouling from micro-organisms such as depended on vessels of T known – aircraft must be developed algae or barnacles, without making the impeccable structure and in accordance with optimising SWaP hull too heavy or impacting marine material selection to keep constraints, maximising speed and ecology. All this must be achievable with a endurance while minimising weight. Many material that can be shaped and bonded sailors alive. While some new materials present advantages and hydrodynamically and smoothed out to onboard personnel have opportunities in this regard, such as minimise drag. For reasons such as these, thermoplastics or advanced alloys. new UMVs almost always feature a chassis become redundant with the Nautical systems, however, carry built using composite materials. advent of remotely operated additional burdens. The hull of a USV or A combination of two or more materials, UUV must be strong enough to withstand typically a flexible matrix and a strong and autonomous systems, ocean effects such as repeated breaking reinforcer, achieves qualities greater than UMVs are still constrained waves or underwater pressure, as well its constituents. Strength and stiffness by by the properties of the as accidental collisions with piers and weight can exceed that of most metals, rocks or in busy shipping lanes, but while still being long-lasting and corrosion- substances used in their without adversely affecting weight or resistant. This improves a craft’s speed construction. buoyancy requirements. and manoeuvrability without driving up costs of development, production and By Rory Jackson maintenance or fuel consumption.
ECA Group’s Inspector Mk2 uses aluminium rather than fibreglass-reinforced plastic, unlike most craft of its class and size. COMBINED (Photo: ECA Group)
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Ocean Aero’s Submaran S10 uses composite materials for its unique sail. (Photo: Ocean Aero)
Proven effective available and perfect for this application,’ to fair the cables. We tried clamp-on Given these advantages and its decades of Al Sayyed added. ‘Metals and carbon fibre fairings, clip-on fairings, glue-on fairings –– use in boat hulls, it should come as no glass may be used, depending on the we finally started casting them over mould surprise that fibreglass composite is widely application and the end user.’ and that was when the system started adopted in modern USVs. UAE-based Al A joint venture was announced at UMEX becoming reliable. Marakeb Boat Manufacturing is helping to 2016 between Raytheon and Al Marakeb to ‘The right alloys, end terminators and lead this trend. manufacture USVs for security, surveillance, moulding material were critical to making The Beagle-7 (B7) debuted at IDEX in commercial and target purposes. that component survivable, because that’s March 2015, with the larger B10 Subsequent comments from the former where the force is being transmitted for the showcased at UMEX a year later. The woven company confirmed that the ‘H-series’ of system. Through every up-and-down stroke mat fibreglass in both takes on different Raytheon USVs would be based directly on of the wave, you’re sending that force down forms, either 300, 600 or 800gsm. The Al Marakeb’s Beagle – accelerating the the cable to lift the glider back up so it can 800gsm type uses ‘roving’, in which the spread of fibreglass-built boats. drop back down again for its next cycle. fibreglass is woven into a lattice, as That’s our piston rod.’ opposed to the scattered composition in Wave motion The float’s deck is laminate fibreglass, the 300gsm and 600gsm varieties. Each Glass-fibre composites are also being thick and heavy to provide a secure lid over offers different structural strengths, with adopted in more unconventional systems. the payloads. The frame is GFRP with two to the 800gsm roving being strongest. The Liquid Robotics Wave Glider SV3 is the three layers of bi-directional cloth (BID), The hulls, decks and fuel tanks are made first USV to complete missions from the with ten-layer BID underneath the in moulds, where the fibreglass mats are Arctic to the Southern Ocean and achieved screwheads for additional mounting laid out, layered and laminated using the 2013 Guinness world record for the strength for threaded inserts. polymer resins and hardeners that enable a ‘longest journey by an autonomous The sub’s main bar is stainless steel, solid outcome once cured. ‘Fibreglass is an unmanned surface vehicle on the planet’. with the wings milled from plates of G10 (a excellent material to use – it is strong, Although the craft’s solar panels, energy pre-made laminate fibreglass-reinforced easily repairable and modifiable, easy to storage technology and wave motion epoxy). As with the cable, the composite cast in any form. [It is easy] to obtain a propulsion are crucial to its range and wings are critical to the USV’s functioning. good aesthetic finish and to join and seal endurance, the use and configuration of Hine noted: ‘It’s very strong, resistant and different GFRP [glass fibre reinforced composite materials also merit recognition, about neutrally buoyant in the water, so plastic] components together,’ said Nour Al not least in terms of the vessel traversing when we want the rest of the sub to sink Sayyed, director at Al Marakeb. ‘We use it seventeen hurricanes and typhoons. when it hits the downstroke of a wave for for individual, recreational, commercial and The ‘float’ and ‘sub’ are linked by an propulsive reasons, the wings will tilt from unmanned boats.’ Elgiloy alloy-polyurethane composite cable. that up-to-down stroke easily. We’ve had The B7 can achieve 45kt and has an Though towing cables – often reinforced shark teeth bite-marks on the wings, but endurance of 1,000km per equipped fuel with Kevlar or other aramids – are easily never through them.’ tank, due in no small part to its strength, purchased, Graham Hine, senior VP at The propellers are carbon fibre and the hydrodynamics and low weight. ‘We are a Liquid Robotics, explained: ‘Round cables pole holding the Air-Mar weather station is GFRP manufacturing facility so are equipped in the water will strum, causing extra frontal round, tapered fibreglass – a carbon-fibre to work with those materials. It is readily area and extra drag, so we realised we had pole was tested, but eventually
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AFRICA’S LARGEST AIR, SEA AND LAND EXHIBITION
THE LARGEST Aerospace & Defence Exhibition in Africa 450 90 000 Expected exhibitors from Expected General 30 Countries Pubic Visitors 30 000 46 000 sqm Expected Trade Visitors Exhibition space 2016 from 86 Countries AT A GLANCE 323 DELEGATION PROFILE Expected Accredited Journalists Ministers Secretaries for Defence from all over the world Chiefs of Armed Forces Chiefs of Armies Chiefs of Air Forces Chiefs of Navies OVER 100 Acquisition and Procurement Officials Expected Civil & Military Aircrafts on Static Display 14 National Pavillions
UNLOCKING AFRICA’S AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE POTENTIAL
AFRICA’S TIME IS NOW! ARE YOU IN ? CENTURION, PRETORIA
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UV-03-16_p26-31_Composite.indd 28 5/18/2016 10:45:09 AM COMPOSITE MATERIALS FRICA AEROSPACE & DEFENCE Littoral choice It should not be assumed however that composites are, or will be, universally AFRICA’S LARGEST AIR, SEA AND LAND EXHIBITION adopted in USVs/UUVs. Modern USVs developed for the littoral or fresh water rely notably less on composites than oceanic systems. For example, ECA Group’s Inspector Mk2 THE LARGEST uses aluminium rather than GFRP, unlike Aerospace & Defence most craft of its class and size. Marketed Exhibition in Africa as a riverine boat, greater resistance to 450 impacts, fatigue and delamination were 90 000 Expected exhibitors from called for. Advances in fabrication Expected General 30 Countries techniques and alloys have also lowered The strength and weight of fibreglass makes it attractive for boat builders, including those working the cost of working aluminium into Pubic Visitors with USVs. (Photo: Al Marakeb) hydrodynamic forms. 30 000 Teledyne Oceanscience’s Z-Boat family 46 000 sqm Expected Trade Visitors discarded due to being galvanically active. constructed on a female mould using a uses acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), Exhibition space from 86 Countries Inevitable contact with certain metals vacuum bag infusion process. The structural with an acrylic layer for improved ultraviolet 2016 would induce corrosion, which is backbone is assembled into the hull and the resistance. Engineering director Ashley AT A GLANCE problematic for a system operating at sea skin and frames are removed as one piece.’ Cantieny explained: ‘We did start out DELEGATION PROFILE for a year at a time. The payload area interior is made from building fibreglass boats and tend to 323 In addition to these various composites, waterjet-cut E-glass and G10 sheets. prototype and do short runs in fibreglass, but Ministers Expected Accredited Journalists a copper-epoxy ‘paint’ is being tested for A number of metals are also used. The thermoforming our boats in ABS is a good Secretaries for Defence from all over the world future anti-fouling in the Wave Glider. As keel is milled 6063-T6 aluminium alloy with alternative for us that produces strong and Chiefs of Armed Forces Hine explained: ‘Most of the material in the rifling. The steering rudders are Type 316 lightweight parts, with a nice finish without Chiefs of Armies Chiefs of Air Forces matrix is copper. You can paint it on, give it stainless steel, constructed as 14mm shafts the need for a gel coat or hand work. The Chiefs of Navies a bit of a sand to clear the resin off the within the balanced planform of plastic material is easier for our technicians to work OVER 100 Acquisition and Procurement Officials copper particles, and it exposes the copper machined sections. Patten attributed the with than fibreglass and allows for quick Expected Civil & Military layer on which biological creatures won’t selection of composites and avoidance of customisation of the platforms.’ Aircrafts on Static Display 14 form. We’ve just started using it and it’s carbon steel as crucial for minimising ABS also experiences reduced wear and National Pavillions quite promising.’ corrosion damage during the UUSV’s long tear compared with gel-coated fibreglass ocean missions. ‘because the colour is integral to the Deep sailing Ocean Aero’s Submaran S10, a UNLOCKING AFRICA’S AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE POTENTIAL submersible ‘UUSV’, also uses a combination of clean energy systems (solar panels and wind propulsion) and a structure combining composite and non- composite materials. The wingsail consists of a wing and flap AFRICA’S TIME IS NOW! of equal chord. The wing is Tedlar (polyvinyl fluoride film)-covered Kevlar reinforced with carbon, with a stub carbon box spar and ARE YOU IN ? core transitioning to C-Spar (carbon CENTURION, PRETORIA composite tubing used in masts). The wing is stiffened with Kevlar-cored ribs and the flap contains carbon C-Spar with similar construction to the wing. The load transition from wingsail to hull is conducted through an aluminium trunnion captured into a composite bearing can. The outer hull and core are built from 0.17kg and 1.70g plates of E-glass laminate and H80 foam. Ocean Aero CEO Eric Patten explained further: ‘The hull is
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Teledyne Oceanscience’s Z-Boat family uses acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, with an acrylic layer for improved resistance. (Photo: Teledyne Oceanscience)
material’. A little nick or scratch is hardly in carbon fibre for its strength-to-weight Fotheringham additionally disclosed: visible, according to Cantieny, who added: ratio. ‘We do have one other vehicle we’re ‘We also find that ABS is very easy to ‘That [carbon fibre] gives it rigidity as working on – I can’t talk a lot about that adhere to and a very strong bond can be well. It means the vehicle is very robust, it right now – other than that we are using a achieved. This helps with manufacturability doesn’t twist, it doesn’t flex at all. You can carbon-fibre hull in that vehicle.’ and customisation.’ actually lift the HUGIN by the nose, even Carbon-fibre AUVs are being more Sales and marketing may also influence the two-ton vehicles, because of the firmly established as a standard by the evolution of AUV material standards. strength,’ Mills added. Switzerland-based company Idrobotica, Kongsberg Maritime’s newest system, the However, Duane Fotheringham, president whose wide range of AUVs have MUNIN AUV, utilises an aluminium shell of Kongsberg’s subsidiary Hydroid, utilised pressure-resistant cylindrical and and plastic in the propellers and rudders. reaffirmed that composites will play a role spherical carbon fibre hulls since the Richard Mills, sales director for marine in the future of Kongsberg AUVs. ‘We have a 1980s. These platforms are designed for robotics at the company, explained further prototype vehicle that we’re running right missions such as mine countermeasures, during MUNIN’s unveiling at Oceanology now and we’re looking at places that we scientific research and object recovery. International 2016 in London: ‘What we can incorporate composite materials, either Corrosion is avoided by almost exclusively did was take the REMUS 600 body, but into the hull or the internal structures, to employing stainless steel where metal is take out all of the electronics, the further bring down the weight. We haven’t required. navigation, the payload and put the HUGIN completed that work and we don’t know AUV’s systems onboard instead. It’s a where exactly it’ll end.’ Floating bonds quick way of getting the product to market ‘The heavier it is, the bigger it has to be To operate in a wide range of aquatic using the commercial success of the to displace that weight and stay neutrally environments and depths, UUVs are often, HUGIN and the military success of the buoyant. Anything we can do to reduce the as previously indicated, reliant on syntactic REMUS 600.’ weight and make the vehicle smaller foams, a composite material consisting of means less drag, makes it able to stay in macrospheres or – increasingly – Carbon basis the water, or go faster. It’s even more microspheres, held by a workable solid This was a departure from the HUGIN important for the two-man-portable vehicle. matrix. A foam is cast via mould tooling model, which relied on composites. One of our goals is to keep it under the for consistent, repeated production, Syntactic foam, a key composite most stringent two-man-portable standards which is useful for work-class ROVs, for buoyancy, was wrapped around of 30kg. It gets difficult to get of all that into especially where contracts are signed for the metal body, which was in turn wrapped the vehicle and stay under that weight.’ multiple units.
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Microspheres are normally 10 to 300 composites. General advantages of the customers that use our printer to create micrometres in diameter and made of technology include reductions in material parts for their boats, in marine biology glass, although they can also be formed wastage and labour intensity, as well as research. All the surface areas on our parts from carbon or polymer. Matrix materials the elimination of production flaws due to are nylon, with continuous fibres inside the include metals, ceramics and plastics, precision software and hardware. part. While all nylon does absorb some with customisability being a key draw. 3D-printed braids of fibre may potentially water, the parts can definitely be used in However, most companies pitch their own retain higher tensile and compression underwater environments.’ proprietary foams to UUV companies and strength after impacts, reducing vehicle For now, most work still continues to carefully guard their material choices. damage. The interlocking 3D-woven focus on UAVs. In November, Stratasys One such company, Balmoral Offshore reinforcement protects against showcased a UAV made from 3D-printed Engineering, has undertaken long-term delamination and fatigue. alloys and thermoplastics – but could not R&D to develop unique low-density foam Current limitations of the technology disclose any work in this arena related to (LDF) systems. Steve Gibb, PR manager at include difficulties producing epoxy UUV/USV parts. Balmoral, stated: ‘The use of LDF means matrices due to the need for rapid cooling Even farther beyond the horizon are the size of the buoyancy modules is and the relative weakness of composites ‘robotic materials’ – composite materials minimised, thereby reducing the weight manufactured by laser sintering. Glass and integrated with sensing, computing and and dimensions of the vehicle.’ carbon fibres printed this way must be communication capabilities. The Such reductions enable increased payload chopped and the short, non-continuous technology gained attention in 2015, capacities for ROVs so far as the buoyancy fibres produce weaker parts compared to following a paper by Nikolaus Correll operates – Balmoral’s LDF, for example, traditional methods. and Andy McEvoy of the University of allows operations at 7,000 metres of sea Few companies offer 3D printing of Colorado Boulder. Unmanned aquatic water (MSW), almost double the average composite materials. Thus far, no one systems utilising blends of robotics and depth of the ocean (estimated at around seems to have considered applying the materials science may one day change 3,680m). The company has also tested a technology to the marine environment, with colour and shape for camouflage or 10,000MSW foam, on offer to customers most applications focusing on UAVs. hydrodynamism, or enhance the realism of requiring extreme depth capability. US-based Markforged prints nylon biomimetic UUVs such as the components reinforced with glass, carbon GhostSwimmer or BIOSwimmer. They Future matter and Kevlar. By extruding continuous fibres might also localise sounds, sense toxicity Though well-known composites continue instead of laser sintering, the company or radiation levels in the water, or even be to be tested and improved, a number of claims stronger parts. Although these have used to form an intelligent swarm of advanced materials merit further not yet been tested in UMVs, spokesperson identical UUVs to overwhelm anti- investigation and trials for seafaring Rebecca Dilthey said: ‘We have marine submarine defensive countermeasures. applications. ▪ Adopting bio-composites – natural fibre- reinforced materials – sounds ideal for Yes, sustainable operations in marine Our BladdersAre THAT biospheres, but potentially dubious for Flexible... something in that is continuous contact with water. A UK-based bio-composites firm, Composites Evolution, has identified the replacement of fibreglass with its natural fibre reinforcers and resins as a key target market. Technical director Dr Brendon Weager also commented that ‘Biotex works well in a hybrid lay-up with carbon fibre – a carbon-flax-carbon sandwich – to reduce cost, improve vibration damping and reduce environmental impact compared to all-carbon laminates.’ He added, however, that the company had not yet begun work on applications for USVs or UUVs and that Biotex ought not to be continuously exposed to water. Additive layer manufacturing represents another crucial area for advancing UMV
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UV-03-16_p32_house.indd 32 5/18/2016 10:57:53 AM REGIONAL FOCUS
THER is a tracked robot from Avia, Thailand. It can be used for bomb disposal, hazardous materials and surveillance. (Photo: author) As-Pac Fresh from attendance at defence shows in India, Malaysia and Singapore, UV playback examines some new regional Aeronautical Development Establishment 24-hour endurance. Still on the drawing designs. By Gordon Arthur (ADE) of the state-owned Defence board, a spokesperson predicted it should Research and Development Organisation fly before year’s end. nmanned systems are on (DRDO) exhibited a family of UAVs, the All three branches of the Indian military the rise in the Asia Pacific region. smallest being the 550g Golden Hawk, intend to adopt the Rustom II and a U Indigenous design and production offering a 2km range and 30-minute consortium comprising Hindustan are well established in China, Singapore and endurance. The hand-launched micro-UAV Aeronautics, the DRDO and Bharat South Korea and some companies are is currently undergoing Indian Army and Electronics is expected to build 76 competing on the export market too. For paramilitary trials. Next in size is the 2.9kg examples. The platform can accommodate those wanting a more systematic account of Indian Eagle mini-UAV with 10km range. a 350kg payload, but its overweight the region, readers may refer to the article The design was completed in 2012 and airframe forced fitment of a larger 170hp ‘Rising in the East’ in the April/May 2015 has been undergoing trials by the army Austro Engine AE300 unit. The ADE is issue. Here we instead take a sweeping view and security forces. attempting to bring the weight down from of selected regional unmanned revelations The updated Netra v2 micro-UAV, with 2,400kg to 1,700kg after delivery of the in the air, water and on land. 40-minute endurance and 4km range, first 24 aircraft. Operational LoS range for was completed last year. About 25 are the Rustom II is listed as 250km while Indigenous increase being supplied to paramilitary units for flying at a 95kt cruising speed. We begin in India, where the biennial jungle operations. Because of the Rustom II’s two-year DefExpo show was held March. India was Also at the show, the ADE displayed two delay, the MoD announced on 19 April that the world’s largest importer of military scale models of larger UAVs, the Rustom I within a month it would issue an RfI to local UAVs from 1985 to 2014, but it is seriously and II. The former is a testbed while the companies, who could collaborate with attempting indigenous development. The Rustom II is a HALE design, offering foreign OEMs to supply unarmed MALE
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UAVs. An RfP is expected within six months chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear surveillance source with a live camera feed for approximately 100 examples for the and explosive (CBRNe) sensors. for six hours. Indian Air Force and Indian Army. The Daksh Warrior is an armed version, In terms of OIS-AT UAV evolution, next Larsen & Toubro (L&T) unveiled its boasting a 7.62mm machine gun and came the hand-launched fixed-wing UAV Adamya AUV, which was to head off for sea 30mm automatic grenade launcher. Live with three-hour endurance. The newest trials soon after the exhibition. The 1,000kg firings have already been conducted. Next design is the 25kg Multi-Mission Hybrid Adamya is launched from a submarine in the series is the tracked Daksh Mini UAV, a fixed-wing design possessing four torpedo tube or from a surface vessel. The designed to operate in train and aircraft wing-mounted propellers to give a VTOL heavyweight prototype of 5.8m length and aisles. Its manipulator arm reaches 2.5m capability. Its maiden flight occurred on 28 533mm diameter will be scaled down to high to search overhead baggage January. It is powered by a petrol engine to medium-weight and lightweight types in the compartments. The DRDO said it is in a range of 150km for up to six hours and future. The Indian Navy has already issued service with Indian military, paramilitary, can carry 10kg of explosives for a strike RfPs for all three AUV types. L&T lists police and rail and airport authorities. capability. potential applications as: hydrography; Finally, the tracked Daksh Scout is mine countermeasures (MCM); ISR; used for silent surveillance or counter- Singapore sub-aqua clandestine monitoring; environmental terrorism missions. At the Singapore Airshow in February, ST monitoring; and ASW. Development is Private firm OIS Advanced Technology Aerospace demonstrated the novel expected to conclude mid-year. (OIS-AT) has invested heavily in UAVs over Unmanned Hybrid Vehicle (UHV), offering the past four years. Indeed, Sanjay through-air and underwater travel modes. Primal urge Bhandari, founder chairman and managing This proof-of-concept vehicle is designed to The Daksh UGV family from the DRDO director, said OIS-AT may have the largest fly to an area of interest and dive into the includes the Primal six-wheeled robot for range of UAVs in India. The oldest designs sea to perform underwater SAR or mine bomb disposal and IED handling. Alok in the line-up are the Octane quadrotor and detection missions. Its chief advantage is Mukherjee, head of robotics, said that the WaveSight fixed-wing type, sold through its ability to move rapidly to an area of military has been using 20 Primals for the Avaana. The 800mm-long Octane, with a interest to conduct underwater tasks. past two years and that a larger Daksh 25-minute endurance and 4km range, is in ST Aerospace has already tested the order is expected in 2016. The DRDO’s service with Indian paramilitary forces. The 25kg UHV underwater, where it achieved development and manufacturing partner is SQ-5, a quadrotor designed for Indian 3kt speeds and a three-hour endurance. It Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz. The Daksh paramilitary forces, has the ability to fly should fly later this year once the developer Spotter has a manipulator arm and inside buildings and, after landing, act as a gains civil aviation approvals. The UHV has
The 13m-long High-Speed Intercept Boat, able to perform both manned and unmanned missions, will be ready next year. Poly Technologies marketed it at DSA 2016. (Photo: author)
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and that it had more than one military export customer too. The Black Kite II with 4.3m wingspan has a range of 180km and speed of 70kt. Avia revealed it is also working on a larger next-generation platform called the Shikra, which will have a 250kg maximum take-off weight. With Avia heavily involved in Saab’s network-centric programme for the Thai military, UAVs may be integrated in the future. Avia also has a tracked UGV, the Towed Hazardous EOD Robot (THER). A Saab Australia continues developing Bonefish for military and commercial customers and it is spokesperson said it was designed for moving closer to Royal Australian Navy demonstrations. (Photo: Saab) bomb disposal, hazardous materials and surveillance. Work on THER commenced in differential propellers, with one set with 7.62mm machine gun, with live-firing 2013 and while development continues, it propelling it through the air and another set scheduled later this year. Various types has already found acceptance with a Thai in the water. such as missile system, logistics carrier, industrial customer. An unmanned MCM combo was communications relay, ambulance and At the same exhibition, Thailand’s state- showcased by ST Electronics. Two scale security patrol are planned. owned Defence Technology Institute (DTI) models illustrated the teaming updated UV on its range of five UAVs. After arrangement that would see a Venus USV Peninsula progress continual modification, the current medium- with a Thales towed-array sonar to detect UV met with Composites Technology range tactical Tiger Shark II with 6m and classify mines. Once spotted, another Research Malaysia (CTRM), a subsidiary of wingspan is ready for series production to USV with an ECA expendable mine disposal Deftech, at the DSA 2016 exhibition in April. commence in 2016. Two systems are system would be launched to neutralise it. CTRM is seeking to extend the endurance already in Royal Thai Air Force service. The ST Electronics is now utilising two 9m hulls of its Aludra Mk5 UAV from six hours to ten. twin-boom pusher design has a 100km and one 16m hull as prototypes, although The Malaysia Remote Sensing Agency is range and a flight endurance of more than the Venus is available with 9.5m, 11.5m or currently using two Aludra Mk5s, which ten hours. 16.5m hull sizes. A spokesperson indicated have a 6.1m wingspan, for sensitive Two DTI designs for the army are the 2.5kg development could be completed by 2017. security-related missions. Eagle Eye III and the Siam. Three systems of The Singaporean company has tested CTRM’s other UAV platform is the Aludra the former were operationally tested in both propellers and waterjets on its SR-10. G Jeyaganesh, Deftech’s head of insurgent-plagued southern Thailand in April- USVs. Other mission platforms being business development, said development May 2015, as well as one in eastern developed are an ASW type with dipping had ‘just finished’. Last year, it completed Thailand. A parachute recovery system has sonar and a force protection USV, fitted an aerial and seashore mapping project for been installed, making it suitable for urban with a 12.7mm machine gun in a remote the Ministry of Environment. Nine SR-10s areas. Its range is listed as 15km, but DTI is weapon station (RWS). have been built to date and Jeyaganesh attempting to extend this. Turning to land, the Kinetics Advanced said the company is proposing it to the The Siam, a quadrotor design, has a 2km Robotics division of ST Kinetics has been Malaysian Army. The hand-launched, 4.5kg range and 60-minute endurance. It is being developing the Jaeger UGV since late 2015. SR-10 flies for one hour and has a 10km tested by the Royal Thai Army this year. Next The company displayed a 2.9m-long 8x8 range. CTRM is talking to foreign partners in DTI’s line-up are fixed-wing UAS and VTOL Jaeger with 680kg payload capacity at the about the possibility of developing different UAV. The latter, somewhat resembling a Singapore Airshow, although a 2.4m-long operational and strategic types of UAVs, motorbike due to two in-line shrouded 6x6 configuration with 250kg payload limit too. Jeyaganesh noted the civilian market is rotors, is operated by the Royal Thai Navy. is also available. The Jaeger’s COTS chassis a priority for CTRM because there are fewer The fixed-wing UAS, also called the RD02, was converted to operate on lithium-ion export restrictions. has an operational radius of 150km and batteries (four-hour endurance) and an Avia, a Thai company in which Saab holds 55kt cruising speed. onboard electrical generator (24 hours). a 37% stake, exhibited unmanned The Jaeger can operate in two distinct technologies at the Defence & Security HALE and MALE modes: tele-operation and semi- exhibition in Bangkok, last November. The Local media revealed in December that autonomous navigation. A future Black Kite II tactical UAV has evolved with a Vietnam was developing its largest UAV yet, application may be a follow-me mode. new engine and airframe. An Avia the HS-6L HALE platform. With 22m Tan Kat Chui, principal engineer, told UV spokesperson confirmed an entity in wingspan, it will have a purported range of that his team is now integrating an RWS Thailand was already a Black Kite client 4,000km and 35-hour endurance via a
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Rotax 914 engine. The twin-boom design is being developed by Vietnam’s Academy of Science and Technology. Local reports indicate the first prototype was completed on 1 November 2015, with flight tests over the South China Sea scheduled for Q2 of 2016. In developing this type, there is speculation Vietnam benefitted from technical assistance from Belarus (UV believes the country acquired the Grif-K in 2013). If Vietnam successfully fields the HS-6L, further development could see munitions added or even sensor payloads to guide Klub-S missiles fired by the navy’s six Kilo-class submarines. The Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) took the wraps off its Wing Loong 2 MALE UCAV at the Beijing Air Show, last September. The turboprop-powered aircraft has a 30,000ft ceiling and 200kt top Korean Air was awarded a $333.5 million contract in January to begin manufacturing its KUS-FT speed. With 11m length and 20.5m tactical UAV system for the Republic of Korea Army. (Photo: author) wingspan, it is 2m longer and 6.5m wider than its predecessor. The aircraft’s Boat can accommodate six crewmen, surveillance for ten hours. Apparently the C endurance is listed as 20 hours, while a meaning it can perform either manned or ROK Air Force (ROKAF) is also interested in M CAIG brochure depicted it as having six unmanned ‘patrolling, intercepting and these UGVs to patrol air bases. Testing is Y hardpoints carrying 12 air-to-surface military missions’. expected to conclude in 2017.
CM missiles. Possible sensor payloads include Hanwha Techwin’s smallest UAV is the an EO/targeting system, synthetic aperture Mountainous exploration Cube with 20-minute endurance. Moving up MY radar, electronic countermeasures, radar South Korea is delving deeply into UAVs. in size is the Star-AM1 quadrotor, weighing CY warning receiver and communications relay. Foraying into the sector for the first time, 1.1kg, that first flew in 2014 and which has CMY The Wing Loong 2 will doubtlessly enter Hankuk Carbon has been cooperating with a 30-minute endurance. Larger is the
K People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) since 2014 Star-AM2, which can fly for 40 minutes service, just as the original Wing Loong 1 to produce the FE-Panther VTOL UAV with carrying a 5kg payload. Its maiden flight was has done. 8m wingspan that features a petrol-powered in 2015. UAVs can help fill surveillance gaps Interestingly, the existence of the rival front-mounted propeller and two electrically along the DMZ, via what Hanwha Techwin CH-5 UCAV from the China Aerospace powered tiltrotors. In a mountainous country calls a Drone-CCTV Cooperative Surveillance Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) like South Korea, a VTOL capability is useful. System, whereby sensors and cameras alert with 30-hour endurance was revealed a IAI and Hankuk Carbon signed a operators to a potential intrusion, at which month earlier. The PLAAF flies the memorandum of agreement earlier this year point a UAV can be sent aloft. predecessor CH-4. CASC revealed recently and they hope to sell the FE-Panther to the Korean Air’s Aerospace Division (KAL- that its CH-series UAVs have been sold to Korea Forest Service, the navy and the ASD) showed a complete KUS-FT tactical 20 military users in more than ten countries Korea Coast Guard. UAV system at Seoul ADEX 2015, outside China to date. At last October’s Seoul ADEX show, comprising four UAVs, a ground control An intriguing USV was shown by Poly Hanwha Techwin displayed two UGVs system, ground support system and Technologies at DSA 2016. Called the High- suitable for monitoring the Demilitarised catapult launch/recovery set. Development Speed Intercept Boat, it is still in Zone (DMZ). The smaller 4x4 vehicle is the successfully concluded in November 2014 development, although a company Star-M3 Multi-purpose Mobile Robot and Choi Young Jun of Korean Air said it representative said the 13m-long craft will Platform (250kg weight and 1.96m long), completed 200 sorties in conjunction with be ready for sale next year. It is being while the Star-M4 Unmanned System for ROKA tests. A $333.5 million contract was created in conjunction with Harbin Surveillance and Reconnaissance (USSR) is announced in January covering KUS-FT Engineering University and it is understood larger (350kg and 2.3m long). The Republic production from 2016-20. Under the first that the PLA Navy has been trialling it to of Korea Army (ROKA) has already tested phase, KAL-ASD will manufacture 16 secure a naval base. them in the field, where soldiers used their shipsets. The KUS-FT is 3.4m long, has a In tests, the trimaran-hulled vessel has autonomous function to patrol the fortified wingspan of 4.2m and it uses a deep-diving achieved a top speed of 75kt, although the border. The USSR has a five-hour mobile landing technique requiring just 150m of target is 80kt. The High-Speed Intercept endurance, plus it can conduct stationary runway, thanks to an arresting cable.
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The other four UAVs in KAL-ASD’s range South Korean military urgently needed this for the Bluebottle craft. Powered by solar, are the stealthy KUS-FC UCAV, KUS-FS kind of UAV. The Dronekiller has a 100kt wind and wave energy, harnessed by hull strategic MALE platform, KUS-VT tiltrotor and top speed, which is ample to chase down solar panels, a solar sail and wave KUS-VH unmanned rotorcraft. The KUS-FS, hostile UAVs. oscillators, the next-generation CTD will destined for the ROKAF, first flew in 2012 Uconsystem currently produces the 3.4kg double the 2.8m length of the original and UV understands an armed version is RemoEye-002B for ROKA battalions and will Bluebottle USV. likely to follow the initial ISR variant. supply 500 systems by 2017. Additionally, The low-cost Bluebottle is designed to The KUS-VH, meanwhile, is an manufacture of six RemoCopter-004X UAVs operate autonomously for six months or unmanned MD 500 helicopter, with Boeing for ROKA artillery units commenced in July more on end. Robert Dane, CEO of Ocius, supporting this effort as part of offset 2015. The ROKA and ROKAF have each envisioned a single operator controlling obligations until late 2015. Korean Air will ordered one tethered TRotor UAV, with 200 such low-cost and persistent vessels. continue pursuing the KUS-VH as a solo these aircraft able to fly for up to 24 hours. The project aims to have a CTD completed effort, with the intended customer being A nuclear power plant also acquired one for by October 2017, ready for approval by the ROKA, which will retire up to 175 MD facility surveillance. Completed just two Australia’s Capability, Acquisition and 500 airframes in coming years. The weeks prior to the Seoul ADEX show, the Sustainment Group. unmanned rotorcraft could operate in RemoCopter-001 platform weighs 1kg and After relinquishing cooperation with teams with manned attack helicopters, as has a 5km range. Uconsystem is aiming it Indonesian firm PT Lundin, Saab Australia well as perform amphibious operation at a ROKA special forces requirement. is developing Bonefish for defence and support. The maiden flight could occur in Furthermore, the stealthy 700g commercial customers. At Pacific 2015, late 2016/early 2017. RemoEye-X7 concept design is also aimed Saab exhibited a modular Bonefish mission at South Korean special forces. A tiltrotor control system, able to fit a rigid-hulled Crash discoveries VTOL design with a 80kt top speed is under inflatable boat to give it an unmanned In 2014, South Korea discovered four development with the Korea Aerospace capability. Derek Rogers, head of Saab’s crashed North Korean UAVs on its territory Research Institute. Centre of Excellence in Autonomous and Uconsystem is proposing a novel Vessels, said: ‘USVs are an excellent approach to tackling such incursions. The Eco-friendly complement to manned systems, allowing Dronekiller is a ‘kamikaze’ UAV that brings The Royal Australian Navy is pondering a their operators to do dull, dirty and down hostile UAVs after locking on and USV for future ASW duties. At the Pacific dangerous jobs from a place of safety.’ auto-tracking them during the terminal 2015 exposition in Sydney, last October, Bonefish now has waypoint autonomy, attack phase. The catapult-launched Ocius Technology exhibited a capability with collision avoidance, autonomous Dronekiller has hooks above the nose, and technology demonstrator (CTD) for navigation and an ability to respond to on the wingtips and tail to entangle the which the DoD awarded a $2.1 million dynamic conditions being added in the target. Park Ui Chung, Uconsystem’s contract. The company signed up Thales to coming year. The engineering team has international marketing manager, said the help develop a thin-line towed sonar array already successfully integrated it with Saab’s 9LV combat management system, A scale model of the Rustom II HALE platform from the Defence Research and Development which reduces the footprint on a mother Organisation was shown at DefExpo 2016. (Photo: author) vessel. Other capabilities to be incorporated are swarm technologies that allow multiple USVs to be controlled by one operator. Saab has been discussing with the navy and Defence Science and Technology Group the potential for installing its system on two different vessels, working towards a major demonstration of capability. Rogers said: ‘The opportunity to trial our system on two different vessels will also demonstrate the scalability of the Bonefish system across multiple hulls and a variety of different operational scenarios, including working towards combined USV- UUV and over-the-horizon mine countermeasures as applicable for Sea 1778 [Task Group MCM] and Sea 1180 Phase 2 [offshore patrol vessels].’ He earlier predicted that fisheries could be the first Bonefish user. ▪
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UAVs have become a major media focus over the last decade, whether through their military use in Afghanistan or the work being carried out by Silicon Valley giants. Now, the sector is increasingly attracting the attention of investors. Gerrard Cowan talks to Andrew Chanin, CEO of industry specialist PureFunds. High-flying funds t has been clear for some time that the single largest holding is AeroVironment, So you’ll see right there is money to be made in UAVs – followed by Parrot, though the ETF is also now there are I this stands to reason in a growing invested in BAE Systems, Dassault, GoPro industry with a global reach. However, new and Thales. many companies ways are developing to put your money into ‘I think you’ll notice that there’s a mix in the fund that are in the business. This was highlighted in early of both right now, and it’s because that’s March, when US exchange-traded fund (ETF) where a lot of the early drone demand and the aerospace/defence specialist PureFunds launched a product technology was coming from – a lot of the space but are not focusing specifically on the UAV industry. aerospace [and] defence companies,’ necessarily a pure-play An ETF is a fund that trades on stock Chanin said. ‘So you’ll see right now that exchanges, like an ordinary stock. They there are many companies in the fund that drone company. tend to track a certain benchmark, allowing are in the aerospace/defence space but investors to achieve returns that reflect the not necessarily a pure-play drone company. general performance of the sector they are [However], they are deriving some revenues tracks the industry as a whole, Chanin interested in. from their drone businesses.’ argued. The index holds companies of varying ‘Part of the thing that we like about Thematic funds sizes, although there are limits at the lower developing funds in some of these The PureFunds Drone Economy Strategy end, he explained. ‘You don’t want to create industries is that they could be volatile ETF – which has the ticker symbol IFLY – an ETF that focuses on a lot of very, very because they’re in the very early stages. is designed to provide investment results small companies… there are various So you don’t necessarily know who the that correspond to the Reality Shares liquidity parameters that are put into the leader’s going to be one year, five or ten Drone Index. PureFunds specialises in screening process.’ years from now,’ he said. ‘Being able to ‘thematic’ ETFs that focus on niche invest in a basket of companies that are sectors. It also has ETFs in cyber-security Wider view doing different things within the drone and video games, for example. IFLY is also attempting to look across the industry, with different takes on it and Reality Shares, which approached broader industry, Chanin said, and not approaches, is a way to diversify your PureFunds to work with it on the project, just to UAV manufacturers. ‘So it’s software exposure to the industry.’ developed the index, which comprises a for drones and input pieces used in the The ETF has only recently been launched, range of companies that have major production of drones. It doesn’t need to be so it is too early to gauge levels interest. interests in the UAV sphere, either military, that your final product is a fully functioning However, Chanin said that he believed there civil or hobbyist. drone,’ he explained. is demand from individual investors and ‘They built their own proprietary index The ETF includes companies based in a professional money managers, given the that rates… what they call a “drones range of countries, as ‘this is definitely a range of areas for growth in the UAV sector. score”,’ said Chanin. ‘It’s a metric that’s very global industry. It made a lot of sense ‘This is an industry that we realise has determined by the size of [a company’s] to see it as a global basket of companies many incredible benefits… there’s so many role in the drone industry.’ as well.’ different ways that companies have the The ETF has holdings in companies right The UAV sector is relatively young ability to incorporate drones into their across the business, with some focused on and developing quickly. This means that business model, and to us it’s really manufacturing UAS and others for whom it can be difficult to predict which interesting to see this industry that’s still this is only a small part of their business. companies will be the giants of the fairly nascent, yet it has the ability to These companies are involved in both the sector in the long or even the medium term. impact so many different industries military and the civilian side. For example, This provides advantages to a fund that around the world.’ ▪
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