The U.S. Navy deployed the hand-launched AeroVironment Puma unmanned aircraft system (UAS) from a coastal patrol ship to provide area surveillance during recent missile-system testing in Arabian Gulf. The service has also tested the small UAS from guided missile destroyers and an expeditionary fast transport ship, and it is currently training sailors to operate the system.

During Griffin missile system testing July 19 through 25, sailors launched the RQ-20A Puma AE (all environment) from the USS Monsoon, a Cyclone-class coastal patrol ship. The Monsoon is one of 10 patrol coastal ships assigned to Patrol Coastal Squadron 1, which is home-ported in Manama, Bahrain, in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

The fixed-wing Puma AE weighs about 14 pounds and provides more than three hours of flight time to a range of 15 km (9 miles) and altitude of 500 feet. It has a gimbaled payload with electro-optical and infrared cameras that stream video and imagery to its ground control station and remote terminals.

“The goal was to put Pumas on ships that don’t have a helicopter or an organic airborne capability of some kind,” stated Inez Kelly, Office of Naval Research science advisor. “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 has also deployed the Puma AE from the DDG-class guided-missile destroyers USS Gonzalez and USS Stout. The service also recently used the aircraft aboard an expeditionary fast transport ship in support of counter-trafficking operations in the Caribbean, AeroVironment said.

AeroVironment developed the Puma AE for a U.S. Special Operations Command program in 2008, and it has subsequently supplied the system to Navy Expeditionary Combat Command coastal riverine forces as well as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The Department of Defense recently designated the improved block 2 version as RQ-20B.

The Navy plans to use the Puma AE for missions including search and rescue of missing personnel; boarding, search and seizure operations; area surveillance and range clearance during gunnery exercises. Operated by a two-man crew, it can be flown manually or programmed for GPS-based autonomous flight. The Navy is training different job categories of sailors at the Marine Corps training facility on Camp Lejeune, N.C., to operate the system.

Puma recovery is accomplished autonomously by using a net system on the ship, or by retrieving the aircraft as it floats in the water. Detecting it on the ocean’s surface can be difficult, however, the Navy reports.

“When we land a Puma in the water, sometimes [it is[ hard to find,” said Navy senior chief electronics technician Anthony Witters. “It does have an infrared strobe on it, but depending on the day or how it’s sitting in the water, we do face some challenges finding it.”