Trial activities for the UK Royal Navy (RN) involving Malloy Aeronautics’ T-150 uncrewed air system have passed the 20 flight-hour mark, with supplies recently having been transferred between warships for the first time.

During the milestone sortie, a payload including “spare and repair parts” was transferred from the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales to the accompanying Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless.

“The drone was flown autonomously just over a mile and was [then] controlled by crews on Dauntless to guide it onto the ship’s flightdeck and make a safe landing,” the RN says.

Produced by BAE Systems subsidiary Malloy, the vertical take-off and landing model has a maximum payload of 65kg (143lb) and flies at up 52kt (96km/h).

The type is being operated by the RN’s 700X Naval Air Squadron drone trials unit during the service’s Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

Describing the transfer to the Type 45 as a “key milestone for the trial”, Lieutenant Matt Parfitt, 700X Pioneer Flight Commander, says the activity will “progress further over the duration of the deployment”.

The RN says more than 20h of sorties and nearly 150 deck landings have been logged since the CSG25 activity began in April.

“By taking some of the logistics burden, Malloy will allow our naval helicopters to concentrate on their core outputs, while delivering, rapid, more efficient resupply across the whole Strike Group,” says Captain Colin McGannity, Commander Air Group for the CSG25 deployment.

“The trials demonstrate the value that uncrewed air systems can bring to current, complex and costly operations,” says Malloy chief executive Neil Appleton, who describes the T-150 as “an easy to operate and low-cost solution”.

Announced earlier this year, the embarked T-150 trial was due to involve deploying nine of the electric-powered aircraft to conduct logistics operations.

In its Strategic Defence Review publication earlier this year, the UK Ministry of Defence outlined an ambition to in the future deploy a “hybrid carrier air wing” featuring a mix of piloted aircraft and UAS.

HMS Prince of Wales on 28 August arrived in Tokyo, Japan, having already conducted operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, India and Australia during its eight-month voyage.