Containerized Solutions for Heavy-Lift Drones Delivered to Royal Navy

The NavyPODS contain everything required to transport and control the Navy's new heavy-lift drone capability By Mike Ball / 20 Sep 2022

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G3 Systems Limited has confirmed that, in conjunction with QinetiQ, the company has delivered four deployable containerised solutions in support of the Royal Navy Persistent Operational Deployable Systems (NavyPODS) program. The four units contain everything required to transport and control the Navy’s new heavy-lift drone capability.

NavyPODS are interchangeable modules that can be fitted to the surface fleet. Using a shipping container as the transport medium, NavyPODS deliver the concept of a ‘plug and play’ warship and enable Royal Navy ships of all sizes to be more adaptable and versatile when deployed. By combining NavyPODS and surface platforms, greater operational effect will be achieved by being interchangeable, interconnected and integrated, allowing the Royal Navy to rapidly respond to a variety of taskings. The heavy-lift drone capability is a key building block of this concept, and G3 Systems provided the deployable containerised solution to transport, control and maintain these drones.

G3 Systems worked closely with the customer, QinetiQ and various suppliers to integrate rapidly changing requirements and still deliver against such short timelines. A normal project of this scale would take 16 to 20 weeks, but by drawing on past experience, standardised proven solutions and the knowledge gained during the Royal Navy Forward Support Units (FSU) refurbishment programme, it was possible to deliver all four systems with three separate designs within 12 weeks, which is a new record for G3 Systems on such a complex project.

Mike Puckett, Managing Director at G3 Systems Limited, said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of this exciting project with the Royal Navy. Over 20 years we have become experts in designing and building complex containerised solutions, and the Royal Navy has seized on this concept for both FSUs and PODs to maximise their flexibility and response time. I am very proud of the G3 team that we were able to mirror this concept and deliver a high-quality sustainable, flexible product in record time.”

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact

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