Retaining its leadership position, Vienna-based Schiebel Group has kick-started the year 2025 impressively. The Group was awarded another multi-year service contract for the CAMCOPTER® S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The contract is for service provision with Remotely Piloted Aircraft Services (RPAS) for supporting EU member states in emission monitoring and maritime surveillance operations.
In addition, Schiebel, as part of the SEACURE consortium led by Thales, has been awarded a grant agreement under the European Defence Fund’s call for unmanned anti-submarine and seabed warfare solutions. The SEACURE (Seabed and anti-submarine warfare capability through unmanned feature for Europe) consortium consists of 35 companies from 13 European countries and aims to progress joint Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Seabed Warfare (SBW) with unmanned air, surface and underwater systems protecting critical maritime infrastructure. The focus is on detection, classification, identification and tracking of underwater threats in demanding conditions. Schiebel’s latest product, the CAMCOPTER® S-300, will serve as the dedicated Unmanned Air System (UAS) for this project. With a maximum take-off weight of 700 kg, the S-300 offers an impressive endurance in excess of 24 hours with a camera and Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) or typically 6 hours with a 250 kg payload. It is the first operational VTOL in its class to achieve these capabilities. The SEACURE project is scheduled to culminate in a large-scale sea trial by 2028.
Schiebel Group’s revolutionary CAMCOPTER® S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) has built an international reputation. Schiebel Group’s first CAMCOPTER® S-100 was supplied to the UAE Armed Forces in 2006 and within three years Schiebel sold its 100th aircraft. During its ongoing production since then and in line with the company’s philosophy of permanent performance enhancement, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS has undergone continuous improvement to meet the ever-growing demand for new capabilities from its worldwide customers.
Backed by Schiebel’s customers and industrial partners, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 now stands out as the unchallenged market leader in its class. After missions on five continents and oceans and in every environment, from the tropics to the Arctic, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 has undeniably proved to be the most mature system of its kind in the world today.
Schiebel India is paving the way for advanced defence solutions with the flagship CAMCOPTER® S-100 Unmanned Aerial System and upcoming innovations like the CAMCOPTER® S-300. Reflecting on the company’s resilient journey in the Indian defence market from initial demonstrations in 2007 to overcoming challenges posed by dynamic geopolitical landscapes, Schiebel India CEO Jajati Mohanty sounded optimistic on the business prospects in the competitive Indian defence market.
“Having opened our operations in India, we look forward to providing solutions for various military and civilian market requirements here. We are currently working with the Indian Navy to use our S-100 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) in a tactical role in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and anticipate an increase in numbers as the Navy experiences the capability of our mature solution and steadily creates new concepts of operations based on this quantum jump in technology for use at high seas,” stated Jajati Mohanty.
He added that CAMCOPTER® S-100 is a platform capable of handling Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), mine detection, manned-unmanned teaming, unmanned-unmanned teaming, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations, and operational logistics, to name a few. The Navy itself is studying the capability further to enhance its options with the help of the S-100 platform by providing necessary inputs.
“The CAMCOPTER® S-100 has provided the Indian Navy with a fantastic platform for undertaking a plethora of activities that previously required a manned helicopter and obviously came with limitations and regulations. With the CAMCOPTER® S-100, the Navy has found its reach and enhanced its multi-role, multi-domain capability by leaps and bounds. The smoothness and zeal with which the Indian Navy has adopted the CAMCOPTER® S-100 into their concept of operations onboard frontline warships have been an eye-opener,” noted Mohanty.
According to Schiebel India CEO, Jajati Mohanty, the platform CAMCOPTER® S-100 has been found to be very versatile at sea, and our customers have commenced its exploitation in earnest to further optimise its usage. “Schiebel has been the market leader for the last two decades, and the reason for this is our capability and our thought process to innovate and stay ahead of the global curve.”
With several world firsts to its credit, Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER® S-100 excelled during its security support of both the G20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, and the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. More recently, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 was also the first UAS to be operated in the Canadian Arctic. In addition, Schiebel assisted the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), whose operations have saved the lives of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
Elaborating further, Mohanty remarked, “We execute capabilities when others are just thinking about them, for example, the manned-unmanned teaming of a rotary UAS from an Airbus helicopter was demonstrated to the world years ago. Therefore, Schiebel will always improve its capabilities and introduce new versions and capabilities to provide multiple options to new and existing customers in India and around the world.”
In October 2024, Schiebel participated in the large-scale NATO supported exercise REPMUS 2024 (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems) hosted by the Portuguese Navy. Sponsored by the UK Royal Navy and in partnership with Thales, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 flew multiple missions over the three weeks of the exercise and impressed with its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities as well as its Anti- Submarine Warfare (ASW), Mine Counter Measures (MCM) and Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) solutions.
“The CAMCOPTER® S-300 provides capabilities to the user that currently do not exist in the global defence market, and we expect to disrupt the market for rotary unmanned aerial systems. In addition to offering the same capability to the Indian military in terms of payload capability and enhanced endurance, the CAMCOPTER® S-300 would position itself as the only rotary unmanned system capable of handling high-altitude operations, both in terms of ISR and operational logistics. This would clearly be a game-changer for high-altitude operations, which need systems like these to drastically reduce dependence on manned aviation and slow-moving logistics,” said Jajati Mohanty.
The CAMCOPTER® S-100 now stands out as the unchallenged market leader in its class. After missions on five continents and oceans and in every environment, from the tropics to the Arctic, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 has undeniably proved to be the most mature system of its kind in the world today
Mohanty informed that Schiebel India will soon complete all activities towards a functional Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility for the CAMCOPTER® S-100 in India for domestic customers, both military and civilian. “Schiebel India is set to establish a regional hub for MRO activities and cater to Asian and African markets, taking into account the government’s mandate and a suitable environment being provided to the Make in India initiative and exports,” he added.
Known for producing quality defence and humanitarian products, which are backed by exceptional after-sales service and support, Schiebel’s new composite division has started to supply high-tech customers with products of supreme carbon fibre technology – all quality-controlled to meet ISO 9001 standards.
With this impressive pedigree Schiebel looks forward to meeting future customer needs for further increased capability and payload and to continue, supported by its partners, to deliver the most flexible, operationally effective unmanned helicopter systems in the world.
