The Defence Investment Plan sets out an autonomous replacement for the Royal Navy’s Wildcat maritime helicopters and increasingly autonomous rotorcraft flying from frigates and destroyers, as the Fleet Air Arm shifts towards uncrewed flight.
The Royal Navy’s Wildcat maritime helicopters are to be replaced by autonomous aircraft, with the Defence Investment Plan setting out a future in which increasingly autonomous rotorcraft fly from the fleet’s frigates and destroyers, the plan said.
The plan listed among its commitments “an autonomous replacement for Wildcat maritime helicopters,” and described a Hybrid Carrier Air Wing flanked by increasingly autonomous rotorcraft operating off escort vessels, a signal that the small crewed helicopters now flown from the back of warships will in time give way to uncrewed machines doing the same jobs.
The Wildcat in this maritime role, the HMA2 version flown by the Fleet Air Arm, is a different aircraft from the Army’s battlefield reconnaissance Wildcat that the plan retires from 2027, and it operates from the flight decks of the Royal Navy’s frigates and destroyers in the anti-surface and reconnaissance role and in support of anti-submarine operations, armed with Martlet and Sea Venom missiles and acting as the eyes of a warship far beyond its own horizon. Replacing it with autonomous systems would extend a pattern the Navy is applying right across its aviation, in which uncrewed platforms take on roles once reserved for crewed aircraft.
The Royal Navy has already been preparing the ground for this, having run trials of uncrewed rotorcraft as technology demonstrators, including work with industry on a crewless helicopter able to carry sensors and weapons for the anti-submarine task, and an uncrewed aircraft flying from an escort carries obvious attractions, since it can stay airborne longer than a crewed helicopter, costs less to operate and risks no aircrew when it is sent into danger.
The shift is not without its difficulties, because a crewed maritime helicopter brings a skilled crew, a heavy and varied weapons load and the judgement to operate in the unforgiving conditions of the open ocean, and replacing all of that will depend on uncrewed rotorcraft maturing to the point where they can match it, taking off from and landing on a small, moving deck in poor weather and carrying enough capability to earn the space they occupy.
No date has been attached to the Wildcat’s departure from the sea in the way one has for the Army’s version.
Not sure I would be keen to do a troop transfer or a boarding operation in a “drone”.
Don’t they have a role in rescue and medevac as well or inserting SF?
RN Wildcat Force have a MCT Flight. Think used for sniper overwatch like with ops the other week with the tanker.
Shortly, no longer possible with this asset.
Can Snipers sit inside a Drone?
Given their use for moving people, I could imagine these being optionally piloted, either remotely from the ship itself or from the helicopter itself.
You lose the advantages in endurance and simplicity with optional crewing, but still gain the disadvantages of additional development and Comms vulnerability.
A maritime ISTAR/air defence/attack UAV would make a lot of sense but would need to be complemented by a transport, command and utility helicopter. Like a flying CCV and its escorts.
It won’t be optionally manned. Get helicopters through flight safety is expensive and also adds to the running costs. The whole point is to save money.
Yet another defence cut dressed up as being hip & trendy.
Yup. Its all smoke and mirrors. Just buzzwords
Wonder how the Royals will fast rope onto ships
Using Commando Force Merlin. The only Wildcat of the CHF are 847 NAS, and they’re Army examples pooled with 1 AAC.
Oooops. They’re gone too.
I wish Parliament was Unmanned.
Might be WFH with Burnham and robots in Parliament
Is this a joke? Wildcats are virtually brandnew I recall the crews being interviewed when they were introduced. I personally doubt the Army’s OSD will stick, and at least 25% will be retained for a long time yet. Autonomous systems do make sense, and the objectives are right for the future; however, the transition is bound to be a roller-coaster ride with many setbacks.
Err, yes!
is it just me or am I seeing drastic reductions in various equipment for the powerpoint promises of unproven tech?