Schiebel expands helicopter-drones lineup with armed variants

LONDON — As numerous countries aim to boost the tactical unmanned aerial capacities of their naval and land forces, Austrian helicopter-drone maker Schiebel is pitching two new products, the armed Camcopter S-101 and S-301 unmanned aerial systems (UAVs), to potential clients in cooperation with its partner, French defense-electronics producer Thales.

Matthew Moore, the deputy sales director for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at Thales U.K., told Defense News that, under the Peregrine program , the two companies have already supplied naval surveillance UAVs to the Royal Navy.

“In the Persian Gulf, Camcopters S-100 have been deployed to Type 23 frigates and they are carrying out extensive surveillance missions. Building on the success of the S-100, Schiebel and Thales are now working to offer two new armed variants of the Camcopter to clients in Europe and beyond,” Moore said at the 2025 DSEI UK show in London last week.

As part of the joint effort, Thales acts as a systems integrator and supplier of sensors to the expanding Camcopter range, he said.

The company representative stated that, adding to the unarmed system’s existing users such as the U.K., France and South Korea, the new armed variants will also be pitched to countries such as Germany, Japan and New Zealand which are looking to expand their capabilities in this field.

“The S-301 will be available for operations in 2027. It is three times bigger than the S-101, which can carry two Martlet missiles, and it will be able to carry ten such missiles,” according to Moore.

In a statement, Schiebel said that the two “next-generation unmanned helicopter systems represent refined new designs, dedicated for weaponization and engineered to meet the rapidly evolving demands of modern military operations.”

“The armed S-101 and S-301 introduce a new era of innovation and precision strike capability for a tactical UAS. The platforms feature advanced performance, military-grade systems integration, embedded AI and robust architecture, purpose-built for the most demanding defense missions across multi-domain environments,” according to Schiebel.

The S-101 and S-301 are developed and manufactured by Schiebel Defence GmbH, a newly established offshoot based in Austria and dedicated exclusively to armed UAVs.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——随着众多国家致力于提升其海军和陆军的战术无人机能力，奥地利直升机无人机制造商 Schiebel 正与其合作伙伴法国国防电子生产商 Thales 合作，向潜在客户推销两款新产品：武装型 Camcopter S-101 和 S-301 无人机系统 (UAV)。

泰雷兹英国公司情报、监视和侦察副销售总监马修·摩尔告诉《防务新闻》，根据“游隼”计划，这两家公司已经向英国皇家海军提供了海军监视无人机。

“在波斯湾，Camcopter S-100 已部署到 23 型护卫舰上，并正在执行广泛的监视任务。基于 S-100 的成功，希贝尔和泰雷兹公司目前正致力于向欧洲及其他地区的客户提供两种新的 Camcopter 武装型无人机，”摩尔上周在伦敦举行的 2025 年英国防务展 (DSEI UK) 上表示。

他表示，作为联合努力的一部分，泰雷兹公司担任系统集成商和传感器供应商，为不断扩大的Camcopter系列产品提供支持。

该公司代表表示，除了英国、法国和韩国等现有非武装系统用户外，新的武装版本还将推介给德国、日本和新西兰等希望扩大其在该领域能力的国家。

“S-301将于2027年投入使用。它的体积是S-101的三倍，S-101可以携带两枚马特莱特导弹，而S-301可以携带十枚马特莱特导弹，”摩尔表示。

希贝尔在一份声明中表示，这两款“下一代无人直升机系统代表了改进的新设计，专用于武器化，并经过精心设计以满足现代军事行动快速变化的需求”。

“武装型S-101和S-301为战术无人机系统开启了创新和精确打击能力的新时代。这些平台具有先进的性能、军用级系统集成、嵌入式人工智能和强大的架构，专为跨多域环境下最严苛的防御任务而设计，”希贝尔表示。

S-101 和 S-301 由 Schiebel Defence GmbH 开发和制造，该公司是新成立的子公司，总部位于奥地利，专门从事武装无人机的生产。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。