Navantia presented its Ground Surveillance Vehicle (known in Spanish as VVT) system, a project focused on the needs of the Intelligence Units of the Army. Star Defense Logistics & Engineering (SDLE) has joined this project incorporating an unmanned aerial system (UAS) that expands the situational awareness of the vehicle.

Navantia system, integrated into an Uro VAMTAC S3 4x4 (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The Spanish Army carried out in November 2018 the first tests with the new Navantia system, integrated into an Uro VAMTAC S3 4x4. The Director of Aeronautica SDLE, Ángel Castro, explained how the range, resistance and sensors that the UAS allows increase the strategic capabilities of this system: "It provides the possibility of elevating communications and the information obtained from a high point of view, broadening the situational awareness and giving unknown and really interesting capabilities, to make an even more innovative vehicle".

The UAS developed by Aeronáutica SDLE is a hexacopter which has been designed according to the needs of the VVT system, its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 15 kilos, although the drone can be customized by modifying materials, weights and software equipment according to the project needs.

It is a captive system, connected to the station in the vehicle by a cable length up to 150 meters. The equipment is powered by the battery of the vehicle itself, so that its endurance in flight is unlimited, it shields communications and increases the scope and capacity of surveillance and anticipation given by this Navantia development, with its foundations in the VERT project (Ground Recognition and Exploration Vehicle) of the company.

SDLE's hexacopter UAS associated with Navantia's system integrated into an Uro VAMTAC S3 4x4. The cable between the UAS and the vehicle is visible (Picture source: Army Recognition)