FlightGlobal
• Craig Hoyle
The Royal Navy has launched four Nyan one-way effector drones from HMS Queen Elizabeth during the Neptune Reach exercise, marking the service’s first strike-drone launches from an aircraft carrier. The drones, built in Wiltshire, were reported to have reached assigned targets; one account gives the system a range of more than 250 kilometers.
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The Royal Navy has launched four Nyan one-way effector drones from HMS Queen Elizabeth during the Neptune Reach exercise, marking the service’s first strike-drone launches from an aircraft carrier. The drones, built in Wiltshire, were reported to have reached assigned targets; one account gives the system a range of more than 250 kilometers.
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The Pentagon has tasked robotics startup Machina Labs with developing a way to mass-produce inexpensive attack drones in quickly assembled modular factories. The effort reflects a push to scale autonomous systems for modern warfare through manufacturing that can be deployed and assembled rapidly.
Elysian, previously focused on a 90-seat battery-electric airliner, is shifting into next-generation drone technologies through a project backed by the Dutch defense ministry. The available report does not specify the project’s scope, timetable or funding, leaving its relationship to Elysian’s airliner effort unclear.
Ukrainian military intelligence says Russia is already using its Rassvet satellite network, described as a homegrown Starlink equivalent, to support military communications over Ukraine. The network is intended to improve the accuracy of Russian strike drones and make them more resistant to jamming.
NATO’s Communications and Information Agency has selected 16 counter-uncrewed aerial systems from five companies for a new marketplace. The platform lets allies access the solutions without running separate tenders, aiming to make counter-drone capabilities easier to acquire.
NATO has launched a marketplace intended to speed allied access to counter-drone technologies and meet urgent operational requirements. Allies plan to invest more than $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years under the initiative, the alliance said.
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