Sharing the burden: Drone proves it can do the job of a heli on HMS Prince of Wales

Royal Navy History has been made with the delivery of supplies between warships using a British-made drone on Carrier Strike Group 25.

A Malloy T-150 octocopter flew from flagship HMS Prince of Wales to destroyer HMS Dauntless during the Indo-Pacific deployment.

The aircraft carried supplies such as spare parts from ship to ship.

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The drone was flown autonomously just over a mile and was eventually controlled by crews on Dauntless to guide it onto the ship's flight deck and make a safe landing.

The aim of the trial is to provide a cheap and efficient alternative to using helicopters or boat transfer to make deliveries.

This, in turn, would free them up to focus on operational tasks.

The Navy is seeking to equip HMS Prince of Wales and her sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth with hybrid air wings, as set out in the Strategic Defence Review.

This means having an operational mix of fast jets, long-range weapons and a number of advanced drones.

Captain Colin McGannity, Commander Air Group, UK Carrier Strike Group, said: "This milestone in the Malloy trials is a step toward the vision of a fully integrated hybrid carrier air wing.

"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.

"The really exciting bit is that we then plan to incorporate these lessons to be able to use UAVs for many other roles, including options for warfighting."

The drones currently deployed on Operation Highmast have carried out nearly 150 deck landings and flown more than 20 hours of sorties.

The Malloy drone has four propellers and four aircrews, is operated by a crew of two and can carry up to 65kg of cargo and fly up to 60mph.

In the latest phase of Highmast, as HMS Prince of Wales and her escort warships made for port visits in Japan, the drone was launched as part of a trial by 700X Naval Air Squadron.

The T-150 drone is made by British company Malloy Aeronautics, which has been owned by BAE Systems since February 2024, and produces a variety of uncrewed aerial systems designed for civilian and military purposes.