UK Royal Navy to deploy logistics UAVs to support Carrier Strike Group Indo-Pacific mission

700X Naval Air Squadron on board the UK Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales flying the Malloy T-150 UAV. (BAE Systems)

The UK Royal Navy (RN) is planning to trial the operational use of heavy-lift logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to transfer cargo between ships during the upcoming UK Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG 25) deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

For the deployment, set to begin later in April, the RN's specialist unit for unmanned aviation, 700X Naval Air Squadron (NAS), will field nine of its Malloy T-150 all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) UAVs. Throughout the mission these will be used to transfer small or low-weight supplies – such as engineering components, and food and packages from home – around the CSG task group.

700X NAS will embark a detachment of 12 personnel to operate the systems, initially from three ships in the task group: the RN's aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which is leading CSG 25, Tide-class tanker RFA Tidespring, and Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless.

In a statement issued on 7 April the RN said this will mark the first time a UK CSG has deployed logistics UAVs to perform intra-theatre lift. Operating alongside the CSG's manned aircraft, the T-150 octocopters will be trialled as a cost-effective alternative to using Wildcat or Merlin helicopters to carry out routine supply work, enabling them to focus on their primary role of protecting the task force, the RN said.