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Royal Navy flies Leonardo Proteus full‑size autonomous helicopter in anti‑submarine demonstrator

The Royal Navy has flown Leonardo's Proteus — a full‑size, remotely piloted AW09‑based helicopter demonstrator — in an anti‑submarine warfare technology trial. The sortie tested autonomous mission systems and sensor integration to evaluate whether Proteus could augment crewed maritime aviation platforms in ASW roles.

Discovered 2026-01-21T02:24:41.662986-08:00 | 2026-01-21T02:24:41.662986-08:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • Moves Proteus from ground testing to flight validation, reinforcing the MoD's consideration of funding two Proteus uncrewed demonstrators for the Royal Navy's 700X squadron and the platform's next development steps (ground runs to flight validation; MoD funding consideration).
  • Trials focus on autonomous mission systems and sensor integration for anti‑submarine warfare, with direct relevance to ongoing maritime patrol and helicopter ASW programmes such as P‑8 deployments and new naval rotorcraft efforts (P‑8 deployments; naval helicopter ASW programmes).

Reported By

Aero-News nextgendefense.com AINonline
Sources Tracked
5
First Seen
2026-01-21T02:24:41.662986-08:00
Latest Update
2026-01-27T02:20:01.337780-08:00
Coverage
Defense

Sources

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