Consistent with the company policy of CANEI, (Continuous And Never Ending Innovation) we have test flown and confirmed a new heavy lift wing for the Mk3 D-15 to increase payload capacity to 25 kilos.  The D-25.

“The D-25 is identical to the long-established highly reliable Mk3 D-15, which has flown many hundreds of hours. The new D-25 with a larger wingspan of 4.65m has delivered on our expectations.

“Waiting in the wings is also a further spial development from our design and engineering teams, to focus on a twin-enginefurther enhanced D-50 aircraft. This would have a payload capacity of 50 kg and full redundancy across all aircraft systems” explained Philip Slater, MD.

In 1999, BCB in Cardiff designed and made its first VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) micro drone and patented Sense and Avoid Technology so UAVs could be safely flown indoors.

Separately, in 2007, UAVE conducted its airworthiness demonstration flight of the Prion MK3 for the CAA. Thislong-flight endurance fixed-wing drone aircraft has now been operating BVLOS at West Wales Airport and multiple other UK and international locations as a MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) UAV, long-range aircraft; the Prion Mk3 or, for defence clients, the Dragon15 (D-15).

BCB and UAVE, two sovereign-owned, British manufacturing SMEs, joined forces in 2023 to fully engage with UK defence, border and blue light forces and deliver a platform with a global reach of this sovereign strategic capability

The design brief for the D-15 was to ensure that the aircraft should have a capacity of 55 litres of payload space and 15 kilos of payload, be a long-range effector, 1,000 km one-way, and most importantly be able to adapt and fit multiple sensors and payloads/payload agnostic to integrate with future new technologies which become available as required. To date, this spiral development has now seen over 26 differing payloads, including tracking, laser designators, EW, telecoms rebroadcast, and surveying equipment integrated into the D-15 in addition to routine ISTAR capability. All of the aircraft’s critical supply components are manufactured in the UK.

www.bcbin.com

Saab’s Autonomous Swarm technology recently featured in the ground-breaking Project Convergence 2024 trials, consisting of one month in the United States. A large UK team, comprising 40 employees from Saab-owned BlueBear and UK MOD Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) personnel, demonstrated the ability to deploy interoperable AI within Autonomous Swarms of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS).

AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, held trials that demonstrated the pivotal role of BlueBear’s technology in collaborative, networked, swarms of UAS. BlueBear’s AI enabled Centurion™ mission system provided the ability for a single operator to command a diverse swarm of autonomous UAS. 

At the core of BlueBear’s AI-enabled autonomy solution is the ability to ‘hot-swap’ AI from any supplier in an autonomous systems-of-systems. This technology is key to unlocking the game-changing potential of deployed networked sensors and effectors in an integrated multi-domain battlefield.

BlueBear’s RedKite and Ghost UAS, were used in tandem with Centurion™, by the tri-nation AUKUS team to rapidly retrain and deploy AI algorithms, that enabled the payloads and UASs. 

”The AUKUS trials marks a significant increase in our ability to interoperate with allied nations, both at mission and core technology levels. Significant investment from both the UK Government and Saab’s BlueBear have allowed us to collectively mature and de-risk high-value technologies that are imperative in modern warfare,” says Andy Fraser, Group Managing Director, Saab UK.

The AUKUS trial was the culmination of Autonomy and Open Architecture work consistently funded by Dstl over two decades. Find additional details of the trials on gov.uk.

Saab acquired BlueBear in August 2023, as its rapid capability accelerator innovating new technologies and integrating them across Saab’s portfolio.