Israeli drone maker SpearUAV has released the Ninox 103 UW Sub-to-Air encapsulated autonomous quadcopter, which it says is the world’s first loitering drone that can be launched from a submarine or other submerged platforms for immediate situational awareness beyond line-of-sight.
Submarines have a significant strategic and tactical advantage due to their ability to submerge. However, they’ve had the disadvantage of not being able to see what’s happening above the waters beyond the horizon of a periscope. This is why submariners have experimented with various ways to extend their views for over a century. Gyrocopters, kites, and even airplanes have been launched from submarines with varying degrees of success, but all of them had the issue of requiring the boat to the surface to deploy them.
In 2013, navies turned to underwater-launched drones as a reconnaissance tool. However, these tended to be fixed-wing aircraft, while the Ninox 103 is based on a quadcopter design that enables it to hover in place.
According to SpearUAV, the Ninox 103 is stowed in a submarine-deployable capsule. Then, before the durable, maritime-hardened drone launches, its capsule floats to the surface and can stay dormant for up to 24 hours.
The Ninox 103 has a range of 6 miles (10 kilometers) and a 45-minute endurance once airborne. The drone has a payload of 2.2 lb (1 kg) and contains Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) sensors for surveillance and autonomous target acquisition using its open-architecture AI system. In addition, encrypted communications, cross-domain connection, and third-party data integration are used to communicate with the submarine, other platforms, or special forces units ashore.
Colonel (Retired) Gadi Kuperman, SpearUAV Founder & CEO, said:
“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. The system has been successfully tested, and Spear is collaborating with a number of defense companies as it continues to work on new developments.”
Watch the Ninox 103 launch from the submerged submarine in the video below.
