A drone carrier is a crewed or uncrewed

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

equipped with a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

on which drones (

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s) can take off and land. This ship can be civilian or military. In addition to drone carriers for unmanned aerial Vehicles, there are also others for

unmanned underwater vehicle Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), also known as underwater drones, are submersible vehicles that can operate underwater without a human occupant. These vehicles may be divided into two categories: remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROUVs) an ...

s and

unmanned surface vehicle An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with v ...

s. As a naval vessel, a drone carrier is capable of launching and picking up combat drones without the need for large and expensive

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s . In March 2013,

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

began efforts to develop a fleet of small naval vessels capable of launching and retrieving combat drones without the need for large and expensive

s. In November 2014,

US DoD The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

made an open request for ideas on how to build an

airborne aircraft carrier An airborne aircraft carrier is a type of mother ship aircraft which can carry, launch, retrieve and support other smaller parasite aircraft. The only dedicated examples to have been built were airships, although existing heavier-than-air aircr ...

that can launch and retrieve drones using existing military aircraft such as the

B-1B The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). , it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with th ...

B-52 The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Ai ...

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

Developmental history

Turkey

In February 2021, President of the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Ismail Demir made public a new type of UAV being developed by Baykar that is planned to be stationed on Turkey's first

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (which, as a result, ar ...

, TCG ''Anadolu''. The new aircraft Baykar Bayraktar TB3 being developed is a naval version of the

Bayraktar TB2 Bayraktar TB2 (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Standard-bearer TB2'') is a Medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operati ...

equipped with a local engine developed by TEI. According to the initial plans, the ship was expected to be equipped with F-35B fighter jets, but following the removal of Turkey from the procurement program, the vessel entered into a modification process to be able to accommodate UAVs. Mr. Demir stated that between 30 and 50 folding-winged Bayraktar TB3 UAVs will be able to land and take off using the deck of ''Anadolu''. On 19 November 2024, Baykar Bayraktar TB3 UAV successfully landed and took-off from TCG ''Anadolu''. It was the first time a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft of this size and class had successfully landed on a short-runway

landing helicopter dock A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship that is capable of operating as a helicopter carrier and also has a well deck for supporting landing crafts. LHD vessels are built with a full flight deck similar in ...

China

On May 18, 2022, the first Chinese unmanned drone carrier named '' Zhuhai Cloud'' ("Zhu Hai Yun") was launched in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, intended to advance marine research and economics. In May 2024, a possible drone carrier, with a catamaran layout and low flight deck, was spotted in the Jiangsu Dayang Marine Shipyards. Confirming the speculative role of the UAV carrier, Captain Chi Jianjun, a Chinese Navy official, announced that the recently launched Type 076-class ''Sichuan'' warship will operate UAVs, as will many other vessels in the PLAN.

Iran

Iran also built a drone carrier (named ''Shahid Bagheri'') with an estimated 160 to 180m long flight deck by converting a container ship. It is reported that several kinds of drones (60 drones) and helicopters can take off from and land on the said carrier. She also carry several anti-ship and anti-air missiles for protection and 30 (50 speedboats) ''

Ashura Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the tenth of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. For Sunni Muslims, Ashura marks the parting of the Red Sea by Moses and the salvation of the Israelites ...

''-class missile speedboats with herself.

Portugal

Portuguese navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

plans, for the second half of 2026, to deliver the NRP ''D. João II'', a platform ship capable of operating aerial, surface and underwater drones, as well as medium (

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS ...

) and heavy ( EH101 Merlin) helicopters of the

Portuguese air force The Portuguese Air Force () is the air force, aerial warfare force of Portugal. Locally it is referred to by the acronym FAP but internationally is often referred to by the acronym PRTAF. It is the youngest of the three branches of the Portuguese ...

South Korea

On 12 November 2024, the

South Korean Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ), also known as the ROK Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The South Korean navy includes the Republic of Korea Marine C ...

conducted a Gray Eagle STOL UAV take-off test aboard the amphibious assault ship ROKS ''Dokdo'' to test the ship's ability to carry fixed-wing UAVs. The Gray Eagle UAV took off from ''Dokdo'', flew twice close to her port side to perform a "simulated landing procedure", but did not land on the ship. The Korean company Hanwha Ocean has presented several concepts for the production of UAV carrier or carriers of other unmanned vehicles in its proposed project called Ghost Commander.

United Kingdom

In 2000s, in the UK the UXV Combatant, which would have been a ship dedicated to

UCAV An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircr ...

s, was proposed for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The Royal Navy intends to operate fixed-wing drones from its two s to boost their combat mass. In trials, it successfully launched and recovered a Qinetiq Banshee Jet 80+, a W Autonomous Systems UAV and a General Atomics Mojave. Under Project Ark Royal, it is considering the installation of catapults and arrestor systems to launch and recover larger drones which are being procured under Project Vixen. Royal Navy briefings have used a carrier-based variant of the

MQ-28 Ghost Bat The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, previously known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS), is a stealth, multirole, unmanned combat aerial vehicle developed by Boeing Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is designed as a f ...

as a representative of Vixen, and General Atomics has proposed its Gambit 5.

References

{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries, state=expanded Ship types Uncrewed vehicles