Royal Marines drone operators have developed new ways to rapidly teach untrained troops to launch uncrewed logistics sorties without 'enemy' detection.

The evolving procedures Malloy Flight, Delta Squadron, of Devon-based 48 Commando (Support Group) Royal Marines are working on will mean a freshly-trained drone team can prepare and launch their drones within three minutes during the day and five minutes at night.

The squadron decamped to the Spadeadam Training Area in Cumbria for five days to work on tactics for launching their Malloy quadcopter—capable of carrying up to 63 kg—while in combat, increasing drone teams’ survivability by reducing setup and preparation time before launch.

The ultimate aim was to keep pace with battlefield developments—those seen in Ukraine, for example, so that drone teams can launch their machines before the ‘enemy’ detects them electro-magnetically or otherwise and attempt to destroy them.

Major Rhys Adkins, Officer Commanding of Delta Squadron, said: “The rehearsals during…