ECA Takes Part in European Coordinated Deployment of 3 Types of Drone

DCNS, in partnership with SMEs/SMIs, conducted a large-scale sea demonstration with the deployment of three drones including the IT180 mini-UAV from the ECA Group. These drones were deployed off the coast of Toulon from a land base in Saint-Mandrier.

The deployment scenario consisted of detecting, identifying and neutralizing, through drone deployment from a land-based center, a vessel representing a threat to a protected area. I4^®Drones, DCNS's mission system, is the product of several years of R&D and innovation and the fruit of the Group's recognized expertise in system development, in particular for the naval integration of drones.

The planning, management and real-time operation of the drones and payloads, and mission restitution were entirely conducted by a multi-drone mission system. The system was installed in an operations center based on the DCNS Toulon-Ollioules site, where the mission's progress was transmitted in real time onto an image wall in the context of the Naval Innovation Days.

The IT180 aerial drone is a versatile rotary-wing mini-UAV developed by the ECA Group. This easy-to-use drone can handle missions even under difficult weather conditions. Its flexible battery system provides 2 hours of autonomy, as well as an operating range in excess of 30 nautical miles and a payload of up to 5 kg (IR, video, PIR). This UAV can be used to monitor and secure areas around a vessel, detect floating drifting mines in front of a transiting expeditionary naval force or be tethered by fiber optics to its "mother vessel" for radio relaying between UAVs and naval surface drones intervening in the mine-threat area.