Defense and aviation giant BAE Systems will demonstrate its new unmanned aerial system (UAS: The concept of the Unmanned Air System was announced. There are two types of UAS announced, called "UAS Concept 1" and "UAS Concept 2".


The UAS Concept 1 is a small UAS that augments existing air forces and is available in sea and land versions. It is envisioned for roles such as electronic attack and optical sensor intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. Although it is billed as a "consumable item", it is designed to be retrievable and can be deployed multiple times.


It has a cruising speed of Mach 0.5, a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet (about 9,100m), a maximum payload of 40kg, and a maximum flight time of 4 hours. Also, since it is launched from a rail-type catapult, it does not require a runway. When retrieved, it lands on a parachute and is stored in a container.


The UAS Concept 2 is a mid-sized UAS designed to replace or augment existing forces in the air force roles of attack, ISR and air superiority. This is also available for sea and land use, and is expected not only as a surveillance aircraft but also as a fighter equipped with the air-to-air missile "SPEAR 3" and the air-to-air missile "Meteor".


It has a cruising speed of over Mach 0.75, a maximum altitude of 40,000 feet (approximately 12,000m), an internal payload of 500kg, and a flight time of up to 5 hours. It adopts a method of taking off and landing using the runway, and can sortie more than 100 times. As with UAS Concept 1, it is stored and stored in a container after collection.


The company positions information superiority as critical in today's multi-domain battlefield, where decision makers need access to the right information at the right time. The UAS concept under development offers the potential to increase the operational effectiveness of manned platforms by augmenting the force mix with affordable combat forces.