Uncrewed Nyan, AR5 trials advance UK Royal Navy’s hybrid carrier air wing development

Service details recent work conducted using one-way effector and uncrewed logistics platform.
The UK Royal Navy (RN) has demonstrated an expansion to its operational Carrier Strike capability, with first trials conducted aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth using Nyan one-way effectors.

Manufactured by BAE Systems’ Callen-Lenz subsidiary, Nyan is a low-cost, rail-launched attack drone which had previously been employed in testing from the RN’s XV Patrick Blackett experimental vessel.

The RN says work with the jet-powered Nyan was conducted from the 65,000t-class Queen Elizabeth in the North Atlantic during mid-October.

Named ‘Neptune Reach B’, the work involved “four separate launches from the aircraft carrier”, BAE says. “All four drones successfully hit their designated strike points,” it adds.

Jet-powered Nyan is deployed via the use of a rail launcher. Source: Crown Copyright

“The trials demonstrate how Nyan can safely integrate and operate from a large, complex maritime platform,” the company says, with Callen-Lenz chief executive Matt Foster adding this “provides another proof point of how this capability can support future force development”.

With a wingspan of 2.9m (9ft 5in), the Nyan air vehicle also has previously been trialled by the British Army during firing trials staged in Estonia.

The navy notes that its planned hybrid carrier air wing operating model “brings together crewed aircraft and drones to increase the carrier’s reach, lethality and flexibility, while keeping personnel further away from danger”.

It adds that the Nyan launches demonstrated “how autonomous strike systems could operate alongside [Lockheed Martin] F-35B stealth jets”.

Additionally, a first series of embarked activities took place in the Mediterranean region involving Tekever’s twin-engined AR5 logistics uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV).

Staged as part of the service’s Heavy Lift Challenge 3, the activity saw the AR5 – which can carry an 80kg (176lb) payload – conduct a round-trip from Tekever’s flight operations and training centre in Atouguia da Baleia in Portugal.

“The aircraft flew for around 90 minutes before reaching the carrier… then completed two landings and two take-offs from the flight deck,” the company says. It then conducted a roughly 2h flight back to its original launch point.

“The demonstration showed how an uncrewed fixed-wing aircraft could be launched and recovered at sea, giving naval forces additional options for logistics, sustainment, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance,” Tekever says.

Tekever’s AR5 conducted two landings and take-offs aboard the 65,000t-class vessel. Source: Crown Copyright

“Tekever is enabling naval forces to conduct missions with greater flexibility, extend operational reach, and respond to evolving requirements at sea,” says the company’s director of platforms, Tiago Nunes.

Notably, Tekever is already under contract to deliver the AR5 to the British Army as a replacement for the service’s obsolete UTacS Watchkeeper system under the Project Corvus activity. Deliveries are due to commence before year-end.

Referring to the Nyan and AR5 trials, RN Lieutenant Commander David Burton, trials sponsor for navy capability, says, “The lessons will help us build a hybrid navy that gives commanders greater choice and ensures our carriers remain at the cutting edge of naval warfare.”

The service has previously conducted several other carrier-based test activities with a range of additional UAVs, including the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Mojave, Malloy Aeronautics T-150 and Windracers’ Ultra.

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