As reported by the American publication "The Drive", On March 10, 2021, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) of the US Navy published on the US federal public procurement website a contract request for the purchase of 120 sets of small Blackwing 10C unmanned aerial vehicles designed to be launched from submarines of the US Navy from the US company AeroVironment as the sole supplier for two years. The purchase is to be made as part of the U.S. Navy's Submarine-Launched Unmanned Aerial System (SLUAS) program, which has been underway for several years. According to the notification, the contract should be concluded in May 2021 with the start of deliveries of the devices from August 2021.
Image of the launch of the AeroVironment Blackwing 10C small reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle from the US Navy nuclear submarine (c) AeroVironment
It is reported that the Blackwing 10C device is actually a reconnaissance version of the Switchblade 10C small barrage munition produced by AeroVironment for the US Army. At a weight of about 2 kg, equipped with an electric motor with a pusher propeller, the Blackwing 10C must be launched from a container from a standard 3-inch (76.2 mm) Signal System Ejector (SSE) missile launcher located in the enclosure of the retractable devices of American nuclear submarines, and allows launching from a submarine from periscope depth. After starting and leaving the water, the UAV must deploy a wing with a span of 0.69 m. The device is equipped with a video camera infrared camera and should broadcast the video image to the boat, located at periscope depth, implementing the concept of "flying periscope". The device is able to stay in the air for at least an hour, has a range within the radio horizon and a secure digital data transmission channel.
It is stated that several Blackwing 10C UAVs can be simultaneously in the air, controlled from a single submarine, which can provide wide coverage of the water area, be aimed at a single object or be used as repeaters for each other, providing an increase in the detection range and data transmission.
According to some reports, tests of prototypes of the AeroVironment Blackwing UAV were conducted from submarines of the US Navy since 2012. It is known that in 2016, the US Navy signed a contract with AeroVironment for the purchase of a batch of Blackwing series UAVs for testing for placement on submarines. Information about the development of this program was not for long, however, in November 2020, the Executive Director of the program on submarines of the U.S. Navy, rear Admiral Dave Goggins, speaking on the webinar annual Symposium of the naval submarine League, said that the U.S. Navy has developed and tested a submarine-launched unmanned aircraft system in the framework of SLUAS for the decision of tasks of reconnaissance and targeting outside the line of sight, and deployed on ships September 2020. However, the type of this system was not specified.
Rear Admiral Goggins said at the time that SLUAS is "just an amazing opportunity for the navy" and that three demonstration tests of the system were conducted in 2019-2020. The initial operational readiness (IOC) of the system was achieved in September 2020.Goggins reported that the US Navy conducted a SLUAS demonstration at sea from the SSN 760 Annapolis-type nuclear multirole submarine Los Angeles, running these machines "to periscope depth and driving them to tactically significant distances, far beyond the horizon" and that "therefore, the boat was able to receive target information and to conduct a simulation of a fast torpedo attack involved a surface ship, in this case Charleston [LCS 18 type Independence], almost at the maximum effective range of the torpedo using the drone for a solution and determine the starting point [torpedoes], after obtaining the preliminary data from the sonar station."
It was reported that other demonstrations were conducted against a surface ship and a ground object, and that a total of 21 UAVs under the SLUAS program were involved in the demonstrations, with the completion of tests in July 2020. "Today, I have five submarines in my fleet equipped with SLUAS, and we will continue to implement this potential, "Goggins said." We are really working on developing this potential for the future."
In November 2020, the US Navy issued a Request For Information to the industry for the supply of a miniature UAV under the SLUAS program, capable of launching from submarines from a standard 3-inch SSE signal missile launcher - as is now obvious, this request was focused on the purchase of AeroVironment Blackwing 10C UAVs, and, apparently, all Goggins ' data on the tests and the beginning of the deployment of systems under the SLUAS program concerned this type of devices.
A slide from the 2013 NAVSEA presentation with proposed data on an early version of the AeroVironment Blackwing series small reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle for launching from US Navy nuclear submarines (c) www.thedrive.com
Video (from) AeroVironment :
