Seeing is believing
Airworthiness
The Skeldar system is designed so it can easily be
certified for all airspace classifications.
Availability
Launch and recovery requires only a minimum of personnel and preparation. Combining a modular design, short turnaround time, built in test functionality and a multiple choice of payloads increases Skeldar’s high availability.
Easy to operate
Autonomy and precise manoeuvrability during takeoff & landing necessitates high safety. Skeldar can hover in the air for hours, providing real-time information to your control station and remote video terminals.
Cost effectiveness with low life cycle costs
Skeldar is designed with the aim of substantially reducing the logistical footprint. To simplify maintenance operations and reduce costs, for example, the equipment compartments are easily accessible via panels that can be quickly opened and closed.
Naval Operations
Situational Awareness and Safety Combined
Integration of Skeldar® UAS on maritime vessels will add great value to your ability to perform maritime operations. With Skeldar’s relative speed and agile flight envelope, imagery intelligence can be collected at long range, but relatively close to the target when very high resolution imagery is needed, and continuously keep the ship away from detection and threats.
In this respect, Skeldar® UAS is an asset with unique characteristics for providing real-time observations and for gaining situational awareness.
High-Value and High-Risk Missions
The characteristics of the Skeldar air vehicle allow it to approach areas or targets of interest while remaining difficult to detect, even with air surveillance radar. The performance and features of the mission payload provide high resolution imagery and precise target acquisition, while maintaining good stand-off range from the air vehicle. In relation to the value of a naval vessel, however, Skeldar is an asset highly suitable for high-risk missions with high-value targets.
Autonomy at its peak
The operational range of Skeldar allows the ship to keep threats at a distance, while maintaining situational awareness. With autonomous air missions, Skeldar can provide situational awareness while keeping the maritime unit silent by communicating brief and limited updates of the route and sensor control to the AV.
Force Multiplier
Skeldar as an asset will add high mobility to the ship, and the VTOL and hovering capability adds a particularly agile mobility while not limiting the overall capability of the UAV system.
Skeldar has the possibility to move slowly or stand still, so that it is harder to detect on radar, can move in formation with the ship and fleet, or move with high speed in any direction to penetrate enemy lines.
The enhanced tactical response in time and space that the Skeldar system provides has potential to multiply the operational capability of the maritime unit.
Skeldar® UAS can prove to be a valuable resource for occasional logistical support and transfers ship-ship or ship-land, especially in hazardous and adverse weather situations.
Naval Operations and System Integration
Versatile Integration with Minimum Impact
The basic configuration for naval installation (i.e. corvette class and above) is a fixed installed landing platform, a helipad, and has the option for shelters for the vehicles on deck unless storage inside ship is feasible.
The UAS Control Station (UCS) is designed to be integrated into the ship’s existing operator consoles and computers for the Combat Management System (or similar) with minimal flight safety critical hardware added. A dedicated console for the control station is naturally always an option.
A flexible configuration, especially for smaller naval vessels, includes installation of Skeldar® UAS in an ISO 20 ft container with or without the landing platform mounted on top. This implementation facilitates a possibility to place, remove or alternate the UAS between ships.
Low Demands on Personnel
The Skeldar UAS is a highly capable system and the system can be operated by just 2-4 people, owing to the ease of use, no takeoff and landing equipment, and the low logistical footprint. Consequently, the relatively low requirements on training of operators allows for manning the system within the onboard ship crew.
Customer demonstrations and flight tests
A team of Saab support personnel performs customer demonstrations where we show our UAS capabilities.
The demonstrations highlight the ease of operation with high-level-commands such as “Point and Fly” and “Point and Look”. Military and civil applications are shown, such as surveillance, reconnaissance and identification.
Development and upgrades
Our products undergo continuous development, allowing opportunities to apply for modernisation and upgrades.
Environment
When it comes to UAS products, our policy focuses on attaining long-term sustainable development by reducing the environmental impact in the field and increasing the life cycle of our products