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.
