Patria and the Finnish Defence Forces demonstrate autonomous systems operating at sea and in the air

The Finnish Defence Forces demonstrated its autonomous systems developed by Patria at an event organised by the Finnish Navy in Upinniemi, Finland on 5 November. The establishment of an Unmanned Systems Company within the Coastal Brigade at the start of next year was announced at the event.

As a strategic partner of the Finnish Defence Forces, Patria has been developing autonomous and unmanned systems consistently for several years. A joint operation between unmanned systems operating at sea-level and on the air was demonstrated at the event. 

“The development of unmanned and autonomous capabilities is one of the most important elements in the strategic partnership and technology cooperation between Patria and the Defence Forces. Patria has provided the Defence Forces with technological solutions that are required by the constantly changing warfare. Together with Patria’s products and the industrial cooperation related to unmanned systems, Patria is positioning as one of the leading companies in autonomous systems in Europe. Patria will continue to invest in these systems, further strengthening the company’s market position,” says Mikko Leino, Executive Vice President of Patria’s Defence and Weapon Systems business area.

“The Navy aims to integrate unmanned systems into our naval defence, either as separate unmanned systems units or by integrating the unmanned systems to be acquired into operational units, such as combat vessels or intelligence units”, Commander of the Finnish Navy, Rear Admiral Tuomas Tiilikainen says.

Patria’s mission management system integrates different platforms into a highly capable Multi-Domain system. At the event in Upinniemi, a so-called Multi-Domain swarm consisting of Patria’s systems carried out its assigned mission successfully, with the swarm being remotely controlled from two locations in Finland.

An unmanned surface vessel operated using Patria’s autonomy kit, which can be rapidly installed on virtually any sufficiently modern vessel. Operating in the same swarm with the surface vessels were a lightweight fixed-wing UAV and a Patria ONE quadcopter, which was launched on its mission from the aft deck of a Finnish Navy Jehu-class vessel. The systems can be used for surveillance, target acquisition or reconnaissance missions, or operated in a so-called One-Way mode, in which they are equipped with a warhead.

photo courtesy Patria