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.
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