The North American company will sign a contract of 1.5 million euros that will take its UAV to fly from
The British Navy plans to test General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ (GA-ASI) Mojave drone on its aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. That is the information transferred by the British Ministry of Defense itself, which on May 19 expressed its intention to sign a contract with the American company. The value of the program would amount to 1,739,633 euros and the program would last seven months.
According to the Naval New s portal, the demonstration will take place off the coast of the United States and its main objective is “to inform a working group of the Maritime Aviation Force of the Future (FMAF) investigating a large fixed-wing UAS compatible with aircraft carriers”.
It should be noted that, in addition to the intentions shown by the United Kingdom, the vice president of international strategic development of GA-ASI, Bob Schoeffling, already spoke about this possibility at the CNE 2023 conference, held in Farnborough. “We are in talks with the British Navy to do a test launch and possible landing of the Mojave UAS later this year,” he said.
According to the manufacturer, the UAV can be launched on complicated terrain such as dirt, sand or unpaved roads. To validate its capabilities, the Mojave has conducted takeoff and landing tests on runways of 125 meters, a distance that would demonstrate its ability to act on an aircraft carrier.