Spanish Navy tests Seeker UAS in demanding exercise

The Seeker UAS proved itself a vital asset in a recent exercise for the Spanish Navy. The UAS, developed by GMV and Spanish technology company Aurea Avionics, was used for intelligence gathering through threat identification, tracking vehicles and other targets, and assessing terrain, routes and settlements.

The Marine Infantry Brigade (BRIMAR), part of the Tercio de Armada de Infantería de Marina (Marine Infantry Protection Force), deployed the Seeker Dec. 9-13 at the San Gregorio national training center in Zaragoza during an exercise known as FTX-BRIMAR 21.

In the demanding live-fire exercises, the BRIMAR troops were able to take full advantage of the Seeker’s autonomy and range to conduct operations from advantageous locations — even in adverse weather conditions, with surface winds exceeding 40 knots — and to arrange autonomous takeoffs and landings in conditions providing little to zero visibility, including night flights.

Despite the complex environment, the Seeker UAS was able to deploy smoothly and enabled the BRIMAR to locate targets both day and night thanks to its dual payload, complete with both a thermal and visible light camera. This contributed to the success of the exercises.

During the exercises, the Seeker UAS processed available data sources to supplement the video with information of use to all deployed troops, not just the system operators: the video and data generated was distributed in real time to the BRIMAR control station using VidStream, a secure, high-quality, latency-free video and data transmission system. This was done using the new RF-7800H-MP radios from L3Harris, which are natively integrated into VidStream. With this setup, the Seeker UAS was the only system to relay video from its ground position to the control station.

The Seeker system was involved in the exercises under the RAPAZ program led by the Subdirectorate-General for Planning, Technology and Innovation, which reports to Spain’s Directorate General of Weapons and Material.

The Seeker UAS is in the Class I Mini segment for defense. It has endurance of 90 minutes, a range of 15 km and a weight of 3.5 kg. Both the Spanish Navy and the Spanish Army received the first Seeker UAS units to reinforce the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of the elite Marine Infantry Protection Force and the Spanish Army’s elite Almogávares VI Paratrooper Brigade.