LAUNCH
SYSTEMS
The U-1A Legion is small enough to be launched from many kinds of boat. These are the ways of getting it into the water that we are exploring. None of them is a finished design.
Conceptremotely
16 each side of the aisle 1 cradle = 1 drone
Stern rack
A rack of drones on the back of a small uncrewed surface vessel (USV), a boat with no one on board. The boat goes to the minefield and the crew stays on the host ship, well away from it. A 12 m boat has room for about a dozen alongside its sonar and other kit.
Container
Drones, rack and console in a standard 20 ft shipping container. Any ship with open deck space can carry one, and it comes off again after the mission. About 32 fit, every one of them within reach and ready to launch.
Tube
A launch tube, like a small torpedo tube, fitted to an uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV). The UUV dives, and the U-1A Legion leaves the tube already under the surface.
RHIB
Two to six drones in crates on a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB), the small, fast boat most navies already carry. For quick jobs in harbours and shallow water.
More in
the same box.
The U-1A Legion is short and slim, so more of them fit in a shipping container. We counted every drone under the same storage rules navies use: an aisle to reach each one, and nothing stored above shoulder height.
U-1A Legions ready to launch in one 20 ft shipping container.
Of either of the two main European single-use mine-clearing drones in service today, in the same container, going by their makers' published sizes.
As many drones in the same space on deck, so a ship can stay out longer before it has to reload.
The right launch system depends on the boats a navy already has, how far away the minefield is and how many drones the job needs.
We would rather fit the launch system to the customer's boats than ask them to change them. The drone stays the same whichever option is used, and the same console runs them all.
Tell us
your deck.
We are looking for navies and system integrators who want to fit the U-1A Legion to their vessels, crewed or uncrewed.