Schiebel has completed the first CAMCOPTER S-300 flight test campaign in France, marking an important milestone in the programme’s progression.

The CAMCOPTER S-300 builds directly on Schiebel’s extensive experience with the CAMCOPTER S-100, a maritime-proven unmanned helicopter with several hundred thousand flight hours accumulated worldwide. Drawing on this operational heritage, the S-300 is designed to deliver increased payload capacity, extended endurance and enhanced mission flexibility for demanding military and government applications.

Hunter says market demand is shifting away from smaller rotary-wing UAVs to larger platforms, weighing between 500 kg and 1,000 kg. He points to Airbus’ development of the Guimbal Cabri G2 light helicopter-based VSR700 and also international tenders. “Customers want more persistence and want more sensor capability, which is why we made the decision to start developing the S-300,” Hunter says. One of the ambitions for the S-300 is for it to be able to use the same all the same ground elements—including the ground-control station, software, electronics and data links—as the S-100, giving existing customers an easy upgrade path should they wish to purchase the larger platform. Schiebel believes the primary market for the S-300 will be navies so it is equipping the platform with a proven, aviation-qualified heavy fuel diesel engine.

  • Schiebel press release

Also see…

https://euro-sd.com/2025/09/major-news/46667/thales-extending-rn-reach/

The S-100, which has a typical payload capacity of 50 kg, could carry two Martlet missiles. However, Moore noted that, with Schiebel bringing its larger S-300 rotary-wing UAV onto the market, which has a 250 kg payload, Thales is looking to put 10 Martlet missiles on that platform. Thales intends to work on this concept in 2026, although much will depend on how the development of the S-300 goes. The UAV only made its maiden flight in February 2025 and a Schiebel spokesman told ESD at DSEI 2025 that the company hopes to bring the S-300 to market “by the end of next year”.

Moore additionally mentioned that Thales intends to place its latest Airmaster C compact airborne surveillance radar on the Schiebel S-300. Weighing less than 20 kg (10 kg less than the I-Master system) and requiring no integration of any additional accompanying units on board, the Airmaster C is an active electronically scanned-array radar designed for both long and very-close-range target detection and to be autonomous, self-learning and capable of analysing and classifying large volumes of data in a size, weight and power (SWaP) package that is 30% lower than other rival systems.

A mock-up of the Royal Navy’s Schiebel S-100-based Peregrine UAV armed with two Martlet missiles hovering over the Thales stand at DSEI 2025. [P Felstead]