SpearUAV, created by a veteran submariner, Colonel Gadi Kuperman has introduced the first quadcopter to launch from underwater: Ninox 103. An autonomous drone solves the problem of air reconnaissance out of sight of the periscope. To hide the location of the submarine, the drone is launched from the capsule with a delay of up to 24 hours. Defense companies demonstrate a huge interest in the development and are ready to adopt it.
Due to their ability to dive, submarines have a great strategic and tactical advantage. However, from the beginning, they also suffered from low visibility. As they could not see what was happening above the waves beyond the sight of a periscope.
Therefore, for more than a century, submariners have experimented with a number of ways to expand their sight. Kites, gyrocopters, and even airplanes were launched from submarines with varying degrees of success, but they all had one drawback: to deploy them, the boat had to come to the surface.
In recent years, the navy has turned its attention to drones that can be launched underwater as a reconnaissance platform. However, these are usually fixed-wing aircraft, while the Ninox 103 is based on a quadcopter design that allows it to hang in one place.
According to SpearUAV, Ninox 103 is stored in a capsule that can be deployed from a submarine. This capsule floats to the surface and can remain inactive for up to 24 hours before launching a rugged, marine-hardened drone.
In the air, the Ninox 103 has a range of 10 km and a battery life of 45 minutes. With a payload of 1 kg, the drone has low acoustic, thermal and visual signatures and is equipped with electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors for reconnaissance and automatic capture of targets using AI with open architecture. Encrypted messaging, third-party data integration, and interdomain connectivity are used to communicate with the submarine, other platforms, or special-purpose teams on shore.
“The first technological development of its kind in the world, the Ninox 103 Sub-to-Air has been developed in response to the needs of Spear’s customers worldwide for a drone capable of underwater launch,” says CEO of SpearUAV. “The system has been successfully tested, and Spear is collaborating with a number of defense companies as it continues to work on new developments.”
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