The new Electric Launch System for Unmanned Aircraft allows UAS operations on a variety of vessels, including aircraft carriers, destroyers and expeditionary sea bases.
General Atomics has unveiled a new “Electric Launch System for Unmanned Aircraft” to be installed on a variety of vessels to support UAS operations. The company says the system is part of a broader effort to support the launching of drones in constrained environments both on land and at sea.
Among the vessels which would be able to use the system, which is based on a scalable design, are aircraft carriers, destroyers and expeditionary sea bases. Specifically, General Atomics mentioned the Royal Navy’s Daring-class (Type 45) destroyer and Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, as well as the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Base ships and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Izumo-class destroyer.
The rendering of the launch system on a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier shows the catapult installed beside the ski jump used by the F-35B. Also, the render shows an UAS of the sister company General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ Gambit series, specifically the carrier-capable Gambit 5 first shown at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024.
“As you know, with the proliferation of RPAS [Remotely Piloted Aircraft System] worldwide, whether on land or sea, we’ve been asked to look at the launch of RPAS in very small footprint from Navy vessels. It’s been looked at primarily Europe right now. Possibly over in the Indo-Pacific area too,” said Gary Hopper, Vice President of Strategic Development at General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, in an interview to Naval News, which first published the news.
General Atomic already manufactures another launch system, the ElectroMagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the Ford-class aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy and, in future, the PANG (Porte-Avions de Nouvelle Generation/Next Generation Aircraft Carrier) of the French Navy. However, the company says that the new system, first shown at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium this week, is “entirely different” from EMALS.
Compared to EMALS, the drone launcher requires a minimal footprint on a vessel with the company claim that it only needs a 4 foot by 2 foot installation area. “It doesn’t have the same redundancy, same requirements you have for manned flight. So it’s a lot simpler system that (can be) put on, possibly some the British carriers or other vessels,” said Hopper.
There are also other applications for this concept for other NATO countries, although the company is still working on them, as well as land-based solutions. For instance, the sister company General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is examining this concept for the launch of Collaborative Combat Aircraft from land-based airfields.
“There are other we’re looking at, some other examples, other NATO countries. I’d say it’s more of a NATO initiative to look at putting it on aircraft. So we use that particular vessel, but there are other vessels out there, again, similar, similar size. In fact, we’re talking about takeoff distance of 22 meters, not very long at all,” said Hopper.
Gambit 5
Gambit is a family of high-performance autonomous combat aircraft based on a common ‘chassis’, known as the ‘Gambit Core’. The Gambit variants differ by their airframe, wing, engine, sensors and/or weapons, each addressing different mission sets. This is the same approach of the ‘genus/species’ concept which GA-ASI developed with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) as part of the Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Platform Sharing (LCAAPS) program.
Before Gambit 5, the company already mentioned four different variants: Gambit 1, focused on Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); Gambit 2, which integrates air-to-air weapons’ employment; Gambit 3, a high-fidelity target drone; Gambit 4, a stealthy, long endurance ISR drone.
The rendering shared by the company shows the aircraft being seemingly based on Gambit 2, although C. Mark Brinkley, GA-ASI’s senior director for strategic communications and marketing, says it doesn’t necessarily have to be weaponized and could be intended as a carrier-capable ISR asset. Obviously, to operate from a carrier, the drone needs modifications.
“There’s a lot that has to go into making the Gambit 5 carrier-capable [in terms of] the catapult launch and arrested landing. How do you reinforce the landing gear? How do you add the tail hook? How do you ‘marinize’ the airframe? All those considerations come into play,” said Brinkley. “We’ve been reinforcing aircraft to take off and land on aircraft carrier for a very long time. There’s no specifically new science to that.”
When it was unveiled, GA-ASI said it currently had no plans to build a prototype of Gambit 5. However, the company mentioned that they expect this project to generate interest as a number of nations are interested in integrating Autonomous Collaborative Platform concept into their ships.
GA’s drone testing on carriers
In the past few years, General Atomics tested fixed wing drones from aircraft carriers, although they did not require the use of catapults. Specifically, in 2023 the company tested the Mojave RPAS on the Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales, while in 2024 it was the turn of the Gray Eagle STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing), Mojave’s production variant, to be tested on the Republic of Korea Navy’s amphibious landing ship Dokdo.
Mojave, which is nine meters long, with a wingspan of 17 meters and a weight of more than one and a half tons fully loaded, became the first uncrewed aircraft of this size to fly from an aircraft carrier outside the U.S. Navy. The takeoff of Mojave, which was controlled by a crew from a control station onboard the ship, was performed at an angle, without using the ski jump normally used by the F-35B. The demonstration included takeoff, circuits around the ship and approaches, ending with a landing back onto the carrier without using any form of arrestor gear.
The activity of the Gray Eagle STOL was part of an evaluation of the RoKN, meant to test the integration of fixed-wing drones onboard the ship. In that occasion, the Gray Eagle STOL took off from the Dokdo in the East Sea and landed at the Pohang Naval Aviation Command airfield, after maintaining communication throughout the hour-long journey with the Dokdo while operating over the sea and then transferring the control to RoKN’s aviation’s ground control.
The Gray Eagle STOL is a STOL Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) RPAS that General Atomics developed from the MQ-1C Gray Eagle-Extended Range. The objective was to create a drone suited for expeditionary operations from forward-bases without the need for typical paved runways or infrastructure.
Like the Gray Eagle ER, the Gray Eagle STOL can be equipped with a sensor suite including EO/IR, Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI) and Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) to support land or maritime missions. However, its payload is doubled compared to the original Gray Eagle as its increased wing surface area allows it to carry up to 3,600 lb (1,633 kg), which totals as many as 16 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
In fact, Gray Eagle STOL has different engines, wings, control surfaces and landing gear, which are modified to obtain much improved STOL performance. The aircraft is the only medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft of its kind that can operate from large-deck warships such as amphibious ships, aircraft carriers, and unimproved, austere runways and airfields on land.
