Photo: General Atomics
Military drones are so versatile that one can easily imagine there's nothing they haven't done yet. Turns out, though, that until earlier this month no short takeoff and landing (STOL) uncrewed aircraft took off from the deck of a Navy ship and landed at a ground base.
If you are into military hardware the term Gray Eagle may ring a bell or two. First flown some 20 years ago, it evolved into several variants spread across some 200 units built so far, which clocked a combined one million hours of flight time with no major incident.
One of those several variants is the STOL, which shares a lot of components with the base variant, with the exception of the engine, wings, control surfaces, and landing gear. All of them changes meant to allow the drone to take off and land from shorter runways than its siblings. Technically the production version of the Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System, it too a derivation of the Gray Eagle 25M, it's one capable piece of hardware.
Because of its capabilities, this Gray Eagle is seen as perfectly suited to be used off the decks of ships, where they always return upon completing their mission. That's not what happened though on November 12, when an aviation milestone was reached off the coast of Pohang, South Korea.
It is there where the drone's maker, defense contractor General Atomics, and its local partner Hanwha Aerospace, flew a Gray Eagle off the deck of a South Korean vessel, a Dokdo-class amphibious landing ship, and landed it at the Pohang Navy Airfield.
Such a mission may not seem all that spectacular, but according to General Atomics it was "the first-ever such mission for an aircraft of this type." And also something that will probably not be matched any time soon, as this version of the Gray Eagle is the "only medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft of its kind."
The flight was performed as the South Korean military is looking into incorporating the drone in the operations of some of its units. The fact that it can take off from the decks of large-deck warships and then land on unimproved fields, but also the fact that operating it does not require ships to be transformed or modified in any way, seems to be making it exactly what the locals need.
The test performed this month comes one year after the STOL being put through its paces at the hands of the Royal Navy. One year ago, the drone flew off the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, where it also returned at the end of its mission.
To give you a sense of what that means in terms of the drone's capabilities, consider the fact that the HMS Prince of Wales is 932 feet (284 meters) long and 240 feet (73 meters) wide, while the South Korean Dokdo comes in at just 653 feet (199 meters) long and 102 feet (31 meters) wide. We were not given details on how large the piece of land the drones used for landing in South Korea is.
One of those several variants is the STOL, which shares a lot of components with the base variant, with the exception of the engine, wings, control surfaces, and landing gear. All of them changes meant to allow the drone to take off and land from shorter runways than its siblings. Technically the production version of the Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System, it too a derivation of the Gray Eagle 25M, it's one capable piece of hardware.
Because of its capabilities, this Gray Eagle is seen as perfectly suited to be used off the decks of ships, where they always return upon completing their mission. That's not what happened though on November 12, when an aviation milestone was reached off the coast of Pohang, South Korea.
It is there where the drone's maker, defense contractor General Atomics, and its local partner Hanwha Aerospace, flew a Gray Eagle off the deck of a South Korean vessel, a Dokdo-class amphibious landing ship, and landed it at the Pohang Navy Airfield.
Such a mission may not seem all that spectacular, but according to General Atomics it was "the first-ever such mission for an aircraft of this type." And also something that will probably not be matched any time soon, as this version of the Gray Eagle is the "only medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft of its kind."
The flight was performed as the South Korean military is looking into incorporating the drone in the operations of some of its units. The fact that it can take off from the decks of large-deck warships and then land on unimproved fields, but also the fact that operating it does not require ships to be transformed or modified in any way, seems to be making it exactly what the locals need.
The test performed this month comes one year after the STOL being put through its paces at the hands of the Royal Navy. One year ago, the drone flew off the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, where it also returned at the end of its mission.
To give you a sense of what that means in terms of the drone's capabilities, consider the fact that the HMS Prince of Wales is 932 feet (284 meters) long and 240 feet (73 meters) wide, while the South Korean Dokdo comes in at just 653 feet (199 meters) long and 102 feet (31 meters) wide. We were not given details on how large the piece of land the drones used for landing in South Korea is.
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