Shipborne UAV is based on surface vessels, operated by personnel on board or fully automated to complete the entire flight process. It can be reused.

Development History
The development and use of shipborne UAVs can be traced back to the Vietnam War in the 1960s. In order to deal with the threat of submarines, the United States has developed a QH-50 shipborne unmanned helicopter for anti-submarine warfare. Its main weapon is MK40 torpedo. With the further development of information, new materials, aviation propulsion and other technologies, the trend of accelerated development of Shipborne UAVs will diversify their functions. The holding time and mission radius will continue to increase, and the take-off and landing capabilities will be further improved, so that the problem of on-board take-off and landing of fixed-wing Shipborne UAVs can be solved.

Specific Function
In maritime operations, Shipborne UAVs are mainly used to perform tasks such as early air warning, maritime intelligence collection, relay communication, electronic countermeasures, mine detection. It can also carry out anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-missile operations. It has a small payload and complex design, involving key technologies such as launch and retrieval technology, artificial intelligence technology, communication technology, and task system miniaturization technology.

Classification
The basic components of Shipborne UAV include the flight body and its mission system, the shipboard control station, the launch and recovery device and the shipboard data terminal. According to the different forms of lift generated during flight, it can be divided into three categories: fixed-wing Shipborne UAV, rotor-type Shipborne UAV and vertical take-off and landing fixed wing UAV.

1 Fixed-wing Shipborne UAV: The aerodynamic layout is basically the same as that of manned fixed-wing aircraft. Rocket-assisted zero-length launch is generally used for take-off, while parachute landing water recovery is used for landing, or net collision recovery method can be used on a wide ship surface. Typical models include the RQ-2B ‘Pioneer’ UAV jointly developed by the United States and Israel and the RQ-7 ‘Shadow’ UAV developed by the United States. The maximum endurance time of RQ-2B is 4 hours, and the maximum mission load is 60 kg. RQ-7 is a large UAV system.

2 Rotor-type Shipborne UAV: There are many forms, including conventional helicopter layout forms and special forms such as coaxial rotor type and rotor / fan coaxial type. The take-off is relatively easy, but the recovery is generally completed by manual pull-down, anti-slip damping net or fork-grid system. To improve the positioning accuracy during landing, GPS and UCARS ( Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Public Landing Recovery System ) can also be used to guide the landing. The typical model is the U.S. ‘Fire Scout’ UAV, with a maximum take-off weight of 1202 kg, a mission load of 136 kg, and a battery life of 6 hours.


3.Vertical take-off and landing fixed wing UAV (Also known as hybrid wing UAV): This kind of UAV is developed in the last 10 years. It is a combination of the advantages of multi rotor and fixed wing, while discarding the disadvantages of multi rotor and fixed wing. The advantage of multi rotor wing is that it can take off and land vertically, with low requirements for takeoff and landing sites, while the disadvantage is that the endurance time is much shorter compared to fixed wing. The advantage of fixed wing is that it has an ultra long endurance time, and the disadvantage is that it has high requirements for takeoff and landing sites, especially for traditional sliding fixed wing. Its vertical takeoff and landing advantages can be widely used in military and civilian ships.