Royal, French navies train shipborne drones in Med

Royal Navy drone personnel have carried out joint training with their French counterparts in the Mediterranean, focused on sharing experience in the operation of uncrewed rotary-wing aircraft, the service stated.

The activity involved sailors from 700 Naval Air Squadron, who deployed with the Royal Navy’s Peregrine drone to the south of France for training at Base Aéronautique Navale d’Hyères. The location is the French Navy’s only air station on the Mediterranean coast and is shared with both Toulon’s international airport and specialist naval aviation units.

According to the Royal Navy, the training took place alongside personnel from the Marine Nationale and the Centre d’Expérimentations Pratiques de l’Aéronautique navale, the French Navy’s experimental test and evaluation squadron responsible for assessing new aviation systems and technologies. Peregrine is the Royal Navy’s variant of the civilian Schiebel S-100 Camcopter, adapted with additional equipment for frontline operations. The service said it is the first remotely piloted helicopter operated by the Royal Navy and is capable of sorties lasting up to five hours, operating beyond the visual horizon of its host ship or base.

The drone has been used operationally in the Gulf in recent years, where it has supported maritime security tasks by providing persistent surveillance of contacts of interest. The Royal Navy said this has reduced demands on crewed helicopters while lowering fuel use and operational costs. During the training period, the 700 Naval Air Squadron team exchanged operating practices with the French Navy, which also operates the S-100 system, primarily from its Mistral-class helicopter assault ships. According to the service, both navies employ the platform in broadly similar surveillance roles.

The Royal Navy said the favourable weather conditions at Hyères also enabled squadron personnel to renew their drone operator qualifications as part of the deployment.