Mojave undertakes trials on Korean amphibious assault ship
November 13, 2024
A General Atomics Mojave UAV took off from amphibious assault ship RoKS Dokdo (LPH-6111) on 12 November, as a part of trials investigating the possibility of converting the ship, which is scheduled to receive a mid-life update, to conduct drone operations. This was the second time that the Mojave had taken off from a “flat top”, following its trials on board the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales last year.
The Mojave is a short takeoff and landing (STOL) derivative of the General Atomics Predator family, with a reinforced rough field landing gear that is stressed for higher sink rates, enlarged wings and a range of high-lift devices including leading edge slats, double-slotted flaps and drooping ailerons. The Mojave has a maximum 1.5 ton payload, allowing it to carry up to 16 Hellfire missiles in its armed configuration, with an endurance in the region of nine hours. In surveillance configuration it can remain airborne for more than 20 hours. The aircraft is serving as a de facto test and demonstration aircraft for the STOL wing kit being developed for other Predator variants.
It was always clear that the aircraft was aimed at ship- and land-based operations, and a single Mojave and its associated control station were embarked aboard HMS Prince of Wales in November 2023, during the carrier’s WESTLANT 23 deployment to the United States. An unassisted carrier take off and unarrested landing were made on 15 November, witnessed by observers from other carrier/amphibious assault ship operating navies, including the US, Australia, Italy, Japan and Spain.
This was the first time that the Mojave had performed a trial from a carrier, but also marked the first time that an uncrewed system in this weight class had operated from an aircraft carrier outside the United States.
The Korean Navy aims to deploy unmanned aerial capabilities on large platforms, including the Dokdo and light aircraft carriers, but the trial was not specifically aimed at evaluating the Mojave, and the RoK Navy said that it was considering a range of drones (perhaps including the Mojave and the MQ-9B SeaGuardian with a STOL kit), and needed first to learn lessons before formulating its detailed operational requirements.
Vice Admiral Yong-mo Yang, Chief of Naval Operations said that: “Through this combat experiment, we aim to validate the effectiveness of unmanned capabilities and introduce and operate diverse unmanned assets early to prepare for future battlefield environments and manpower reductions.”
Previously, the RoK Navy had only operated vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) on its ships, and this trial was the first time that the Navy had operated a fixed-wing, conventional take off and landing UAV from a flight deck. The Mojave’s components were loaded on board the RoKS Dokdo on 4 November after which the aircraft was assembled and tested.
The Mojave took off from RoKS Dokdo, and then flew twice along its port side to perform a ‘simulated landing procedure’, before flying to the Naval Air Command airfield at Pohang, where it made a conventional runway landing. The decision not to attempt a landing was due to the narrow width of the Dokdo’s flight deck, which at 199 metres was long enough to take off from (the Mojave requires just 100 metres) but was judged to be not wide enough.
The RoK Navy has an extensive area to cover, and the use of UAVs promises to speed up operational response times. Roles could include identifying and detecting surface targets, deploying sonobuoys for submarine hunting, and even for attacking surface and sub-surface targets.
There is a growing trend in Asia towards the operation of UAVs at sea, and China has recently constructed a dedicated UAV carrier.
