According to information published by the UK MoD on December 29, 2022, the Royal Navy’s drone squadron has taken its expertise in uncrewed systems one step further by building its own quadcopter.
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Quadcopter Walrus. (Picture source: UK MoD)
Personnel from 700X Naval Air Squadron have built their first remotely-piloted air system in a milestone moment for the Culdrose-based team. Once thoroughly put through its paces, the drone could be used as a testbed for sensors and delivering other payloads.
In an empty aircraft hangar, the sleek four-legged system is ready to be turned on and put through a series of ground tests.
The 20kg octo-quadcopter is named Walrus after the flying boats pioneered by 700 Naval Air Squadron and flown from cruisers and battleships during the Second World War.
700X Naval Air Station is the Royal Navy’s expert unit in the research, training and deployment of remotely piloted air systems.
A quadcopter or quadrotor]is a type of helicopter with four rotors. Although quadrotor helicopters and convertiplanes have long been flown experimentally, the configuration remained a curiosity until the arrival of the modern UAV or drone.
The small size and low inertia of drones allows use of a particularly simple flight control system, which has greatly increased the practicality of the small quadrotor in this application.
