Kraken Technology Group’s K3 Scout USV has now been fitted with Saab’s Giraffe 1X radar to create an autonomous drone-hunting vessel.
The K3 Scout is the platform already selected by the Royal Navy for its Project Beehive trial as part of its transition to a Hybrid Navy model.
The uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) can reach speeds in excess of 50 knots and are capable of being fitted out for both strike and ISR missions.
Now Kraken, based in Fareham, Hampshire, has collaborated with neighbour Saab U.K. to fit its Giraffe 1X system: a 3D radar designed to detect and track airborne threats in real time.
As per press statements from the two firms: “When equipped with the Giraffe 1X radar, the system is expected to provide early warning of potential drone incursions, detecting even small airborne targets at significant range.”
They said the new capability was targeted at maritime patrol duties including protection of shipping, ports, offshore energy assets and national infrastructure.
Kraken Technology Group CEO Mal Crease commented: “Kraken and Saab UK’s prototype ‘drone-seeker’ vessel is exactly what the K3 Scout was designed to do: integrate with mission-relevant payloads to then operate in austere maritime environments.”
And MD of Saab UK Andy Fraser added: “This is a pioneering, U.K. manufactured, deployable capability, that together with Kraken we’ve developed in less than seven months.
“This reflects the strength of our partnership, the maturity and flexibility of our respective technologies, and our ability to respond at pace to the evolving threat landscape and needs of our customers.”
Kraken has claimed its new 35,000 sq ft production facility in the U.K. will be capable of building up to 1,000 vessels per year. In April it announced it had started a large-scale K3 Scout production run at Rheinmetall’s Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany.
The same month it announced a deal with Anduril to produce two new USVs, the K5 Kraken and K7 Sabre, in America.
And in July the RN trialled air-dropping K3 Scouts out of the cargo bay of an Airbus A400M Atlas from a height of 1,300ft.
- You can read more details about the new prototype on the Saab website and the Kraken Technology Group website
