In a recent tweet, HMS Spey reported the successful launch of a drone as part of its ongoing operations in the East China Sea.
HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, plays a crucial role in maritime security and surveillance. The tweet can be viewed in full at HMS Spey’s official Twitter account.
Alongside other tasking, HMS SPEY has spent the last few weeks proving her RPAS capability for the first time ✈️
Utilising PUMA with support from 700X whilst in the East China Sea operating with ROKN 🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/C5LVQPDM98
— HMS Spey (@HMS_Spey) April 17, 2024
The tweet states that HMS Spey has been testing its remotely piloted air system (RPAS) capabilities for the first time. This operation was conducted using the PUMA drone, supported by Squadron 700X, while coordinating with the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN).
The East China Sea is, as you may expect, east of China, and part of the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of roughly 1.2 million square kilometres. It is bordered by the Chinese mainland to the west, Taiwan to the south, and Japan to the east. The sea connects with the South China Sea to the south via the Taiwan Strait and with the Yellow Sea to the north. This region is a focus of significant geopolitical tension, involving territorial disputes over several island groups and concerns about maritime sovereignty and resources.
This reminds me of the days when the RN and other navies used to use balloons to improve situational awareness. What’s old is new again
I used to have one of those growing up in the 80s. Great fun.
We should really expand the experimental drone concept to include not just the carriers but the Rivers as well. Drones can bring the biggest capability uplift to vessels like the Rivers as they have no organic helicopter capability.
In my view, by the time that T31 is entering service, every RN and RFA vessel should have drones on board for organic ISR purposes at the very least. If nothing else, they would come in handy if having to support SAR operations.
As far as type goes, something simple like this would be a base level capability.
Agree but it’s crazy we did not have this 10 years ago considering identical drones were operating from warships in 1991.
Our third carrier
The RFA,used too launch similar version of Puma and we would shoot them down for AA practice
How does it get recovered?
Just found a video. Apparently it crashes (literally) into the sea and we send a dinghy after it. Looks a bit risky
For some of them (not sure about this one) there seems to be a wire that hangs off the side of the ship and then the drone gets caught on it and slides down to the waiting crew, a bit like sideways arrestor gear.
Sounds like Scan Eagle rather than Puma. We spent about £30m on them in 2013, deployed them to half the Type 23s, then ditched them by 2017 without replacement.