Maritime Drones & UAS

Find Maritime Drone manufacturers and suppliers of Naval UAV, MUAS and unmanned helicopters for offshore inspection & tactical ISR
Overview Maritime Drones & UAS
By Staff Writer Last updated: February 27th, 2025

Maritime Drones & Naval UAV

Maritime drones and naval UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) have been specially designed to operate at sea and over the ocean. They are engineered to withstand extremes of weather, including heavy rain and winds, and must be resistant to salt spray in addition to regular moisture ingress.

Unmanned helicopters are a popular Maritime UAS (MUAS) platform, as their VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) operation allows them to be easily deployed from a small footprint on the deck of a ship. Fixed-wing maritime UAV can also be launched via catapult launcher, or a runway on larger vessels, and can also launch from land.

Maritime drones

Anavia’s HT-100 Long-range maritime drone

Payloads

Maritime drones may be equipped with a variety of payloads, including EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) gimbals that allow them to provide surveillance and search for objects on the surface of the water. ViDAR (Visual, or Video, Detection and Ranging) technologies are a form of optical radar that extend the imaging and search capabilities of maritime UAS by allowing them to scan a wide area of ocean with a larger field of view.

Commercial Applications

Naval Drones

SKELDAR V-200 Heavy-fuel, ITAR-free tactical long-endurance VTOL solution

Maritime UAS can be used for a wide variety of both civilian and military applications. Offshore use is becoming more common, as drones are ideal for performing offshore inspection of wind farms and oil rigs, as well as delivering supplies to remote offshore platforms.

Used by first responders in search and rescue operations to locate people and shipwrecks in large areas of open water, maritime UAV are also used for many law enforcement and security applications, such as:

maritime naval uav

Steadicopter’s Black Eagle Electric VTOL UAV for naval, maritime and coastal missions

Naval Drones

Naval UAV provide tactical situational awareness and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to navy vessels and fleets. They may be able to network with other naval assets such as USV (unmanned surface vessels) and AUV (autonomous underwater vehicles) to provide a multi-domain capability that can share information.

Products (6)

Raybird UAS

Small tactical UAS for long-range reconnaissance missions

Small tactical UAS for long-range reconnaissance missions
...aerial system (UAS) for extended reconnaissance missions. With an unmatched 28 hours of continuous... ... comprehensive UAS solution featuring a long-endurance UAV, ground control system, catapult...
AR5 Fixed-Wing UAS

Long-range fixed-wing UAS for naval & maritime surveillance

Long-range fixed-wing UAS for naval & maritime surveillance
...nce fixed wing UAS optimized for ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), border patrol,... ...EO/IR sensors, maritime radar, SAR (synthetic aperture radar), SIGINT and AIS. It can also be fitted...
AR3 Long-range VTOL UAV

Long-range maritime surveillance UAV with optional hybrid VTOL capability

Long-range maritime surveillance UAV with optional hybrid VTOL capability
...act fixed-wing UAS designed for long-range vessel-based maritime and land missions. With an...
Star-X VTOL-4910HP VTOL UAV

20kg capacity hybrid VTOL UAV for maritime operations

20kg capacity hybrid VTOL UAV for maritime operations
...ation in harsh maritime environments. With long mission endurance times of up to 12 hours, it is...
Alpha A900 Helicopter UAV

STANAG-compliant for maritime ISR Missions and Border Control

STANAG-compliant for maritime ISR Missions and Border Control
The A900 can be used for many missions, from ISR and border control to infrastructure inspections, c...
Huntress – All Weather Drone

Versatile wind-resistant quadcopter drone

Versatile wind-resistant quadcopter drone
The Huntress is a versatile electric quadcopter with redundant battery systems, designed to undertak...

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