"New Era of Innovation": The military will receive drone helicopters armed with Martlet missiles

To spread: Austrian manufacturer of helicopters and UAV Schiebel, together with the French producer of Thales electronics, presented Camcopter S-101 and S-301 battle drones at the DSEI UK 2025 exhibition in London. Camcopter S-101 can carry two Martlet missiles, and three times the larger Camcopter S-301-as many as ten such missiles. This was reported by Matthew Mur, Deputy Director of Intelligence, Observation and Recognizing in Thales UK, Defense News.

Martlet is an easy-to-land, air-air, air-air and land-earth, and Thales Air Defense for the United Kingdom based on the Starburst landscape. Its weight is about 13 kg, length - 1. 3 m, diameter - 76 mm. The rocket is driven by a laser beam, although the developers have offered other methods, including thermal system and GPS. Martlet is designed to defeat ground and surface targets with light or middle armor.

These include fast shock boats, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), armored personnel carriers (BTR) and other light and medium ground and surface goals. S-101 and S-301 are developed and manufactured by Schiebel Defense GmbH, a new subsidiary based in Austria and specializes exclusively in UAV combat. Partners' forecasts, S-301 helicopter will be ready for operation in 2027. "Fighting S-101 and S-301 open a new era of innovations and high-precision punches for tactical UAVs.

These platforms are characterized by high productivity, integration of military level systems, built-in artificial intelligence and reliable architecture, specially designed for the most complex conditions. Matthew Mur added that Schiebel and Thales have already supplied the naval reconnaissance UAVs to the royal fleet of Great Britain. In particular, Camcopter S-100 is placed on Type 23 frigates in the Persian Gulf and perform large-scale surveillance tasks.

They are also used by the armies of France and South Korea. "Based on the success of S-100, Schiebel and Thales are working to offer clients in Europe and beyond two new Camcopter options in the form of armed helicopters," Matthew Mur emphasized. According to him, new rockets with rockets will be offered by the United Kingdom, France and South Korea, which are already using naked models, as well as Germany, Japan and New Zealand, who want to expand their opportunities in the field.