Schiebel, as part of the Thales-led SEACURE consortium, announced on 13 January 2025 that it has been awarded a grant agreement under the European Defence Fund’s (EDF’s) call for unmanned anti-submarine and seabed warfare solutions.
The SEACURE (Seabed and anti-submarine warfare capability through unmanned feature for Europe) consortium consists of 35 companies from 13 European countries and aims to progress joint anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and seabed warfare (SBW) capabilities with unmanned air, surface and underwater systems protecting critical maritime infrastructure. The focus is on detection, classification, identification and tracking of underwater threats in demanding conditions.
The SEACURE project is scheduled to culminate in a large-scale sea trial by 2028.
Schiebel’s latest rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the Camcopter S-300, will serve as the dedicated UAV for this project. With a maximum take-off weight of 700 kg, the S-300 offers an endurance in excess of 24 hours with a camera and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) payload or typically six hours with a 250 kg payload. It is the first operational vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV in its class to achieve these capabilities.
“We have been working successfully with Thales on various ASW solutions for the S-100 since our first participation at the NATO exercise ‘REPMUS’ in 2022,” stated Hans Georg Schiebel, chairman of the Schiebel Group, in a company press release. “Due to its longer endurance and higher payload capacity, the S-300 opens up a multitude of new possibilities for ASW and SBW. The SEACURE project aligns perfectly with our S-300 development roadmap and we’re proud to be part of such a significant project.”
