Schiebel, Diehl team up for German Navy unmanned helicopter bid

Austrian unmanned air system manufacturer Schiebel and German defense contractor Diehl Defence have renewed a teaming agreement which would allow Schiebel’s defense products to enter the German market.

One particular goal of the collaboration is to market Schiebel’s vertical take-off and landing UAS, the Camcopter S-100.

In 2008, Schiebel completed flight trials onboard the German Navy’s K130 Class Corvettes Braunschweig and Magdeburg in the Baltic Sea with the S-100 completing more than 130 takeoffs in under 20 hours.

“The renewal of the teaming agreement is the result of the longstanding cooperation between Diehl Defence and Schiebel. We consider Schiebel a highly competent partner and believe the Camcopter S-100 is the best possible product for all remotely piloted aircraft operations of the German Navy,” said Helmut Rauch, member of the division board of Diehl Defence.

According to Schiebel, the Camcopter has a range of 200 km and navigates automatically via pre-programmed GPS waypoints or can be operated directly with a pilot control unit. Missions are planned and controlled via a point-and-click graphical user interface. The “fly-by-wire” technology allows the UAV to complete missions even in challenging electromagnetic environments, the company further says.