The Royal Navy has used a Puma drone to guide a crewed Merlin helicopter during a live operation in the Atlantic, marking the first time unmanned and manned aircraft have worked in tandem in this way.

The Puma drone, weighing just a few kilograms and with a wingspan of 9 feet (2.7 meters), is one of the smallest systems used by the Fleet Air Arm. It can fly for up to two hours and is capable of providing high-resolution reconnaissance imagery, either live or recorded. It’s operated remotely from ships or land-based stations and can be launched by hand.