Suggested Citation:
Sarigul-Klijn, Nesrin and Marti M. Sarigul-Klijn (2016) A Novel Sea Launch and Recovery Concept for Fixed Wing UAVs. 54th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting

This paper details a new Sea Launch and Recovery or SEALAR concept via its modeling, simulation, and early risk reduction studies. SEALAR can both launch and recover large fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) with a single mechanism, freeing precious flight deck and hangar space while automating the handling of heavy UAVs to and from the ship’s flight deck. A separate catapult system is not required to launch the UAV. Additionally, SEALAR is able to operable in heavy sea states and it subjects the UAV to low accelerations and attitude changes during launch and recovery. Our SEALAR system competed in the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node solicitation, DARPA-BAA-13-28. The SEALAR novel system is comprised of 4 major sub systems: (1) an "off-the-shelf" stabilized maritime crane, (2) a specially designed recovery & launch apparatus called "Trapeze" mounted to the end of the crane, (3) any fixed wing large UAV, and (4) a new custom Hi-Lift wing kit for the UAV which is designed to interface with the Trapeze and to reduce recovery/approach speed to 40 knots. The SEALAR system can be installed on any Navy ship as either a temporary or long-term installation without permanent modifications to the ship. The Hi-Lift wing kit carries enough added fuel so that the large UAV can maintain an orbit for 24 hours that is located 900 nautical miles from the ship.