Page 29 - Australian Defence Mag Jul-Aug 2020

JULY/AUGUST 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SURVEILLANCE IN LAND DOMAIN LAND 129 29
conversion kit enabling it to take off and land vertically but fly horizontally, a capability described by Kormas as of po- tential if not current interest to Army.
DARK HORSE
Little is known of Raytheon’s Land 129 Phase 3 bid apart from its downselect to the tendering phase, simply because the company has declined to discuss it.
That said, it’s generally considered to be teaming with the Austrian Schiebel Group in offering Schiebel’s S-100 Camcopter vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV.
The carbon-fibre S-100 has a maximum takeoff weight of 200 kilograms, a cruising speed of 100 knots, a service ceiling of 18,000 ft, and maximum payload of 50 kilograms. When flying with a 34 kilogram payload, endurance is more than six hours, although this can be extended to 10 hours with an external fuel tank.
The S-100 was selected in late 2017 under Navy Minor Project 1942 for an evaluation program aimed at developing the RAN’s understanding of the capabilities of an advanced VTOL TUAS.
At the same time Schiebel said it was simultaneously preparing for the upcoming tenders for Land 129 Phase 3 and Sea 129 Phase 5, the latter to select the future UAS capability for the new Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Ves-
sels (OPVs), but recently delayed for at least two years. In September 2018 the company formed Schiebel Pa- cific Ltd based at the Aviation Technology Park adjacent to HMAS Albatross, and three months later it disclosed it had leased two S-100s to Army for a series of advanced
payload evaluations.
These included the L3 Wescam MX-10 EO/IR camera,
Elta Systems’ ELK7065 high frequency communications intelligence and direction-finding system, Overwatch Imaging’s TK-5 Firewatch smart tactical mapping ca- pability, and Leonardo’s PicoSAR active electronically scanned radar.
Schiebel recently announced that it had completed the RAN’s acceptance tests for the S-100’s new and reportedly more efficient S2 heavy fuel engine, also an important ad- vance for Army.
Since kerosene-based fuels are less flammable than pet- rol in shipboard environments, a heavy fuel engine is es- sential for the future TUAS given the army’s intention to fly the system from the RAN’s two Canberra-class Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs).
All four contenders are configured for maritime as well as land-based operations, although as yet Orbiter 4 is powered by an unleaded petrol engine. ScanEagle, Integrator, Aero- sonde and S-100 all have significant shipboard experience. ■
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