[Naval Innovation Days 2021] Physical integration of drones on submarines and surface ships

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15 October 2021 Innovation

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The Naval Innovation Days (NID) took place on 7 October at the Palais des Congrès in Issy les Moulineaux. Along with other presentations and conferences, this event organised by Naval Group for the French government, as well as its industrial and academic partners presented its flagship innovations on its stands. Find out more in our series of articles about NID 2021!

Drones are an essential component of future collaborative combat. In order to integrate these new drone capabilities (intelligence, surveillance, target recognition, combat, etc.) onto surface ships and submarines, Naval Group is conducting a comprehensive study in which integrating a UxV drone system onto a ship is a puzzle in which the drone itself is only a fraction of the overall system, which covers its operation or recovery, EMC, COMs, energy management, co-activity, balance of the ship or even discretion in the case of a submarine.

A systems approach to systems

As a leading system engineer and shipbuilder, Naval Group offers proven drone integration solutions with its I4®Drones product line (mission system, controlled decision-making autonomy, operation and recovery system).
Ongoing developments and innovation programs are aimed at gaining technological maturity to further develop systems that enable the French navy to maintain its operational supremacy, by integrating drones as the ship’s organic means and then by safely projecting them, regardless of sea state. An expectation that Naval Group's global approach to UxV integration is designed to meet.
During NID 2021, Naval Group teams shared with visitors the benefits of this cross-functional vision to rise up to the challenges posed by drone integration. It is also a great opportunity to imagine the rapid deployment of drones: automatic homing of USVs to a surface ship, operation of USVs by a surface ship, implementation of a UAV by a submarine.