Royal Navy tests drones that can fly 250kg of supplies to Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers with 'pin-point accuracy'

Experts from the navy’s experimental drone wing, 700x Naval Air Squadron, have tested two crewless aircraft – which could soon be flying on to the Senior Service’s two £3.2bn supercarriers.

It is the second time the drones have been put through their paces to see how they could be used on futuristic military operations.

The latest ‘heavy lift challenge’ saw the hi-tech Malloy Aeronautics T-600 quadcopter managing to transport a load of more than 250kg over a short distance.

While the fixed-wing Windracers Autonomous Systems’ Ultra drone managed to fly 100kg payload more than 620 miles to a platform replicating the flight deck of the Portsmouth-based Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

Remarkably, the unmanned drone was able to slow its speed and drop its package onto the mock flight deck with ‘pinpoint accuracy’, the navy said.

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The successful trials could soon open the doors to allowing the navy to use drones on operations, supporting everything from disaster relief to front-line combat.

Brigadier Dan Cheesman, the navy’s chief technology officer, said: ‘The heavy lift challenge is surpassing all our expectations. This is a genuine, game-changing collaboration between the Royal Navy, DE&S’ future capability group and industry and has, so far, produced quite spectacular results – all inside the same commercial framework we are able to iterate as one-team.

‘We are not there quite yet, but in perhaps as little as two months’ time, we will have the final ‘show don’t tell’ evidence we need to commence scaling to the hands of the warfighter at unprecedented pace.’

The tests come as the navy seeks to revolutionise how it operates, with Royal Marines having previously tested how they can use drones on battlefields.

James Gavin, head of the future capability group said the latest bout of tests were an ‘important milestone’ that delivered some ‘promising results’, which would help deliver the ‘cutting-edge’ tech ‘at pace’.

‘Ultimately, this work will help the UK armed forces retain and grow its operational advantage and also deliver cost efficiencies,’ he added.

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