Puma UAV flies from Navy destroyer

The Navy has flown an RQ-20B Puma small UAV from a guided missile destroyer in the Arabian Gulf.

The demonstration this month follows the testing in late July of another Puma — the RQ-20A AE model — from the coastal patrol ship Monsoon, also in the Arabian Gulf.

"The goal was to put Pumas on ships that don't have a helicopter or an organic airborne capability of some kind," said Office of Naval Research science adviser Inez Kelly in a Navy news release. "The Pumas and other small UAVs give those platforms some eyes in the sky they never had before. They allow ships to have better situational awareness of where they are by providing an overlook capability."

The Navy sees the value of small, tactical UAVs like the Puma for maritime search and seizure as well as man overboard and personnel recovery missions.

More In UAS

France, UK embrace fully drone-based naval mine hunting with new tech

Novel systems include a portable operations center, unmanned surface vehicles for finding mines, and underwater drones for disabling them.

Why Sweden nixed new wind farms for fear of missing Russian missiles

There are a number of ways that wind turbines, and especially large groups of them, can mess with the readings from a radar system.

Space Force expands Commercial Integration Cell partnerships

The cell provides a venue for real-time technology exchange between U.S. Space Command and commercial space firms.

Europe picks consortium for sovereign satellite constellation IRIS²

The EU is counting on IRIS² as a sovereign alternative to the likes of Starlink, Amazon’s Kuiper or U.K.-based OneWeb.

Leaders wrestle with a potent mix: AI and weapons of mass destruction

New technologies can lower the bar for manufacturing dangerous weapons, while also helping watchdog organizations in detecting treaty infractions.