T-600 heavy UAV successfully launches anti-submarine torpedo for the first time in NATO exercises
As drones become more efficient and sophisticated, they are being used to solve increasingly narrow, highly specialized tasks. The Navy is not standing aside either. NATO’s recent REPMUS exercise in Portuguese coastal waters demonstrated new UAV capabilities. The T-600 cargo drone, developed in the UK by the defense company BAE System and engineers from Malloy Aeronautics, launched a light anti-submarine torpedo, the Sting Ray, as part of a test.
From a distance, the T-600 looks like an ordinary copter for shooting video, but when you get closer, you realize that it is the size of a passenger car. It is powered by electric traction, lifts a load of up to 300 kg, accelerates to 140 km/h, and travels 80 km on a single battery charge. As part of the REPMUS 2023 exercise, which was conducted to test prototypes of maritime unmanned systems, the T-600 performed a series of flights in front of representatives of NATO countries, as well as Ireland and Sweden.
The highlight of this test was the launch of a training version of the Sting Ray torpedo, which has been adopted by the British Navy. This was the first time it was used from a drone to perform a training mission.
The purpose of the test was not only to demonstrate the capabilities of the T-600 in combat against a submarine, but also to assess its potential in logistics, resupply, evacuation of the wounded and other tasks without the participation of a pilot, New Atlas writes.
The Stingray torpedo is designed to destroy submarines and, after being fired from a boat’s torpedo launcher or dropped from the air, launches a sonar and heads for the target. It is about three meters long, 0.3 meters in diameter, and weighs 267 kg. Depth of operation is from 15 to 750 meters.
According to BAE Systems, the T-600 drone will be the basis for the T-650, a new generation of electric UAVs that can be quickly reconfigured for a range of military, commercial, and humanitarian missions.
“In just two years since we started working with Malloy, we have developed a heavy UAV and, working with the UK Royal Navy and Portuguese Navy, participated in the latest NATO REPMUS exercise,” said Neil Appleton, Head of Clean Electrical Products at BAE Systems Air. “The demonstration showed the capabilities of our T-600 technology demonstrator, which carried the inert Sting Ray torpedo in front of the world’s leading navies.”
