Royal Navy makes first ship-to-ship drone delivery

A Malloy T-150 drone seen operating between the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier and HMS Dauntless destroyer during the CSG25 deployment, marking the first RN ship-to-ship cargo delivery using a UAV. (Crown Copyright)

The UK Royal Navy (RN) has conducted its first ship-to-ship cargo delivery using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the service announced on 1 September.

The milestone saw a Malloy T-150 quadcopter drone operating between the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier and HMS Dauntless Type 45 destroyer during the UK Carrier Strike Group 2025 (CSG25) deployment, also known as Operation ‘Highmast', in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The drone was flown autonomously during take-off and sorties for just over a mile and was subsequently controlled by crews on Dauntless to guide it onto the ship's flight deck and make a safe landing,” the RN said, adding, “The aim of the trial is to provide a cheap and efficient alternative to using helicopters or boat transfer to make deliveries and free them up to focus on operational tasks.”

The Malloy T-150 can carry a load of 68 kg out to over 70 km. The trial was conducted by 700X (eXperimental) Naval Air Squadron (NAS), also known as Pioneer Flight, which was stood up in 2014 as the RN maritime unmanned centre of expertise.

For more information on the RN's unmanned aircraft plans, please see Dark blue drones: Royal Navy sets out path to unmanned aviation future .