Canada Navy Canada Surface Combatant (CSC) Program

[oldcpu]

I’m curious what Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) might be planned for embarkation aboard Canada’s upcoming River Class destroyers. To date, I haven’t come across any detailed public documentation outlining specific UAV requirements or platform selections for this class.

Possible (pure speculation on my part) operational roles might include:

• Visual surveillance and reconnaissance
• Target acquisition or designation
• Sonobuoy deployment
• Sonobuoy data relay
• Small ship-to-ship payload delivery
• Signals intelligence (SIGINT)

Again, these roles are entirely speculative—I have not seen any official Canadian Navy document confirming which of the above capabilities are being pursued for a shipborne UAV system.

From the official statements, the River Class is intended to be compatible with an embarked UAV, but no public details that I have read provide information regarding:

• The specific UAV platform(s)
• Sensor or payload configuration
• How UAV systems would integrate with the ship’s combat management system (CMS)

I note that Canada has procured a small number of UMS Skeldar V-200 VTOL UAVs for evaluation aboard Halifax-class frigates and Harry DeWolf-class Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). However:

• It remains unclear to me whether these UAVs are fully operational or still undergoing trial and evaluation
• There is no confirmed information that i could find on how data from the Skeldar V-200 interfaces with either class's CMS
• There is no public evidence that I could find confirming mission payload configurations for Canadian Skeldars

I believe it can be confirmed that the Skeldar V-200 supports NATO STANAG 4586, which is the interoperability standard for UAV command, control, and data exchange. I also believe that Lockheed Martin’s VCSi (Vehicle Control Station interface) software explicitly supports this standard. Furher, Lockheed also supplies the CMS 330 combat management system used on the Halifax and Harry DeWolf classes. However, i have read nothing to confirmed whether:

• CMS 330 includes native STANAG 4586 support
• CMS 330 has been integrated with VCSi aboard any Canadian vessel
• Any software bridge exists between UAV systems and the CMS at sea

I also have read nothing to suggest Aegis supports STANAG 4586.

Additionally, I note that Canada is pursuing a broader, long-term ISTAR RPAS (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) project, which remains in its definition phase as of 2025. This national-level program may or may not eventually align with UAV requirements for the River Class destroyers, but no such connection has been publicly confirmed.

So for now, in my case as a curious onlooker, and i suspect others as well, that we’re still very much in the dark about which UAV systems the River Class Destroyer will field, what their operational roles will be, and how those systems will be integrated.

 

[oldcpu]

Also on this topic, I am wondering if procurement of a smaller 'data relay drone' for sonobuoys signals may be an item that is under consideration by the Canadian navy, to go with the River Class destroyer.

I note there is an "old" "General Atomics" article (from January-2021) that notes testing with an air-drone to relay sonobuoy signals back to a ship that was using the UYS-505 sonobuoy processing software. Further a slightly newer "General Atomics" article (from March-2024) of GA-ASI Tests of a "Sonobuoy Dispensing System" with an MQ-9B Sea Guardian air-drone in the US Navy's W-291 test range in southern California. This testing was also reported in a defense.info webpage article. The MQ-9B Sea Guardian airdrone is, I believe, under development, but I suspect it is rather large and it can only be carrier launched. Hence if I am correct, then Canada would need to rely on helicopter drops/launch of sonobuoys for the River Class destroyer - but possibly after sonobuoys deployed, an air-drone could be used for data relay ??

Again - the above is PURE speculation from different news and defence advertising websites. This could be totally wrong. I suspect it could be years before we learn the actual implementation from unclassified sources.

As noted, I believe the MQ-9B Sea Guardian is too large for a warship such a the River Class Destroyer.

I surfed the internet a bit more on UAV use with sonobuoys, particularly the relay of raw sonobuoy signals to a warship via UAV.

While reviewing press releases on the Canadian military IDEaS Project (Ultra/UMS SKELDAR), I found that the procurement of the UMS Skeldar V-200 VTOL UAV is being evaluated under Canada’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program, specifically under a Phase 2 contract awarded to Ultra Maritime and UMS SKELDAR to assess a UAS-based ASW sonobuoy dispensing capability. However, there is no mention of data relay functionality in these documents. Similarly, under the broader Canadian ISTAR Program, sonobuoy deployment is referenced, but not data relay.

This isn’t to say Canada isn’t exploring sonobuoy data relay via UAV — rather just that I haven’t found explicit confirmation. Other nations, however, are actively investigating this capability.

For example, a 27 March 2025 Ultra Maritime press release ( https://umaritime.com/ultra-maritime-next-generation-multistatic-active-sonobuoy/ ) notes that the Royal Navy’s Proteus UAS program—part of its Maritime Aviation Transformation strategy—is exploring both sonobuoy dispensing and data relay for Tier 1-2 UAS. While unconfirmed, a UAV like the UMS Skeldar V-200 could conceptually fill this role.

Further evidence comes from a Naval News article (18 October 2024) ( https://www.navalnews.com/naval-new...es-multi-mission-capabilities-at-repmus-2024/ ), which describes how Leonardo’s Proteus technology demonstrator successfully deployed G-size and A-size sonobuoys, while a second Schiebel Camcopter S-100 relayed the sonobuoy signals back to a ground station in real time, demonstrating critical range extension.

Additionally, a Schiebel CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS document ( https://mc.nato.int/systems/file_download.ashx?pg=1900&ver=1 ) states:

"Teamed with Thales, the operational flexibility of the Schiebel CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) is used to operate ASW missions... by performing Sonobuoy Data Relay between standard NATO sonobuoys in the water and the control station for processing by the Thales BlueTracker acoustic processor."

This suggests that Canada could implement a similar system on a UMS Skeldar V-200, but—in the absence of confirmed developments — it would likely require additional development and integration work on the part of the Canadian Navy, if pursued.

Finally, practical considerations must be addressed: VTOL UAVs like the Skeldar V-200 require significant deck and storage space. If such a system were considered for the River-class destroyer (CSC), challenges would include:

- Stowage (possibly in the mission bay),
- Movement to the flight deck (potentially interfering with helicopter operations), and
- Integration complexity — none of which are likely trivial.