What is known

From afar, the T-600 looks like an ordinary video helicopter, but it’s actually the size of a car. The new drone works with electric traction power, lifts a load of up to 300 kilograms, reaches a speed of 140 kilometers per hour and travels 80 kilometers on a single battery charge.

As part of the REPMUS 2023 exercises held in Portugal to test prototypes of maritime unmanned systems, the T-600 belonging to BAE Systems and Malloy Aeronautics companies performed a series of flights in front of representatives of NATO countries, as well as Ireland and Sweden. inert Sting Ray training torpedo.

• The Sting Ray torpedo was designed to destroy submarines.
• After being fired from a torpedo tube or dropped from the air, it activates the sonar and moves towards the target.
• It is approximately 3 meters long, 0.3 meters in diameter and weighs 267 kilograms.
• Passage depth from 15 to 750 meters.

T-600 drone drops a torpedo / Photo: BAE Systems

This is the first time such a weapon has been deployed in a naval mission using a modern unmanned platform. The aim was not only to demonstrate the ability to destroy boats and ships, but also to demonstrate the potential for automated logistics, resupply, evacuation of casualties, and other missions with relatively light environmental impact and without the need for human pilots.

According to BAE Systems, the T-600 will form the basis for the new, all-electric heavy-duty T-650 UAV capable of rapid reconfiguration for military, commercial and humanitarian markets.