Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock
The drone lands, swaps and flies again on its own
Overview
A vehicle-mounted dock that lets a drone land, change its own battery and relaunch without a hand on it. Vision-based precision landing puts the aircraft on the pad, the dock adapts to the vehicle it rides on, and hot-swap battery handling keeps the mission running: a 4,000 g drone flies a 45-minute sortie with an EO/IR payload, and the dock sustains more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission across swap cycles. The drone launches from up to 2,500 m above sea level, cruises to 15 m/s, and navigates on GPS with visual backup in manual or automatic modes. It has been integrated and tested on a main battle tank, with autonomous operation validated in the field and the swap cycle completed with no manual intervention. Patent pending.
A vehicle-mounted dock that keeps a drone flying across battery cycles with no hand on it: vision-based precision landing, vehicle-adaptive docking, and more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission.
How it comes to you
Unstrat is the authorised global representative and distributor for this capability. It is already in service with a track record behind it, so you are buying something that has done the job elsewhere, not funding a first attempt. You are not the test bed.
Why Unstrat: the difference
Independent, non-aligned origin, with no political exposure to any major-power ecosystem.
One accountable team from first briefing through delivery and in-region sustainment.
Integrated and tested on a main battle tank, with autonomous operation validated in the field.
Capabilities
- Vision-based precision landing onto the pad
- Vehicle-adaptive docking with hot-swap battery handling
- 45-minute sortie with an EO/IR payload on a 4,000 g drone
- More than 2.5 hours of continuous mission across swap cycles
- Maximum launch altitude 2,500 m above sea level; maximum cruise speed 15 m/s
- GPS with visual navigation; manual and automatic modes; swap cycle with no manual intervention
Specifications
| Type | Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock |
| Drone MTOW | 4,000 g |
| Launch altitude | Up to 2,500 m AMSL |
| Cruise speed | Up to 15 m/s |
| Endurance | 45 min with EO/IR payload |
| Continuous mission | Over 2.5 h with dock |
| Navigation | GPS + visual; manual and auto modes |
| Status | Patent pending |
| Origin | Independent / non-aligned |
| Support | In-region sustainment |
How it reaches you
Related capability
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Procurement & sustainment
Classification and the end-user-certificate chain are confirmed before this capability is represented to your market.
Sourced from an independent manufacturer: no major-power disclosure rules or political conditions.
A single team responsible from first briefing through delivery: not a chain of foreign primes to integrate yourself.
Lifecycle support and operator training delivered in-region, building capability that outlasts the initial deployment.
Questions buyers ask
What is an autonomous battery-swap dock?
It is a vehicle-mounted dock that lets a drone land, swap its battery and relaunch on its own, so it keeps flying across battery cycles with no hand on it. Ours delivers more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission with the dock, on a 4,000 g drone flying a 45-minute EO/IR sortie between swaps.
See: Command and control across the fleetISR capability context
How does the dock keep a drone flying so long?
By swapping the battery for the drone autonomously. Each sortie is 45 minutes with an EO/IR payload on a 4,000 g drone; the dock lands it, hot-swaps the battery and relaunches, giving more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission across cycles with no manual intervention.
How does the drone land back on the dock accurately?
By vision-based precision landing onto the pad, with vehicle-adaptive docking and hot-swap battery handling. It navigates on GPS with visual navigation and offers manual and automatic modes, so the landing and swap run without a hand on the aircraft.
Is the autonomous battery-swap dock a proven system?
It is integrated and tested on a main battle tank, with autonomous operation validated in field conditions and the swap cycle completed with no manual intervention. The design carries a patent-pending status.
Vehicle-mounted dock that swaps a drone battery without a crew
That is the whole point. The dock lands, hot-swaps and relaunches the drone autonomously, so the crew does not handle the aircraft or its batteries. It is mounted on the vehicle and adapts to the platform, and it has been integrated and tested on a main battle tank.
Dock that keeps a drone up for hours from a moving platform
It delivers more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission with the dock, stitched from 45-minute EO/IR sorties on a 4,000 g drone, with a maximum cruise speed of 15 m/s and launch from up to 2,500 m above sea level. Vehicle-adaptive docking is what lets it work from a platform rather than a fixed pad.
Battery-swap dock for a high-altitude deployment
The drone launches from up to 2,500 m above sea level, so a high site is inside its stated envelope. Confirm your specific launch altitude against that ceiling in the technical review rather than assuming it.
Dock that works with GPS and a visual fallback
It navigates on GPS with visual navigation and offers manual and automatic modes, and the landing itself is vision-based precision landing onto the pad. That combination is what lets the swap cycle run autonomously rather than needing a satellite fix and a pilot for every landing.
Autonomous drone dock from a non-aligned supplier
It comes from an independent, non-aligned supplier with one accountable team and in-region sustainment, and it is already integrated and tested on a main battle tank. For a vehicle-mounted capability, that independent, non-aligned origin with one accountable team and in-region sustainment is part of the reason to look at it.
We want persistent overhead cover from a vehicle without the crew touching the drone. Does this do that?
That is exactly its purpose. The dock lands the drone, hot-swaps the battery and relaunches it autonomously, giving more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission from 45-minute EO/IR sorties, with the whole swap cycle done with no manual intervention. It has been integrated and tested on a main battle tank. Trial it on your own platform, because the vehicle-adaptive docking still has to be fitted to your vehicle.
See: Command and control across the fleetISR capability context
How reliable is a vision-based landing back onto a dock on a real vehicle?
The landing is vision-based precision landing with vehicle-adaptive docking, and the autonomous operation has been validated in field conditions on a main battle tank, so it is demonstrated rather than promised. The honest caveat is that a precision landing onto a platform is sensitive to the specific dock fit and conditions, so trial the landing and swap cycle on your own vehicle in the environments you will actually operate in.
How does this differ from the vehicle-integrated ISR drone the same principal builds?
They solve related problems differently. The vehicle-integrated ISR drone is an aircraft that folds into an armoured bay and swaps its battery in 60 seconds or less; this is a dock that lands, hot-swaps and relaunches a 4,000 g drone for more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission. Which fits depends on your vehicle and the mission length you need held, so scope both in the technical review rather than assuming one covers the other.
See: Vehicle-integrated drone comparedISR capability context
What is the patent status, and what does patent pending actually mean for us?
The design carries a patent-pending status, which means an application is in progress rather than a granted patent. For a buyer it is background on the origin of the docking and hot-swap approach rather than a capability claim; the capability to judge is the delivered record of integration and field validation on a main battle tank. Raise any intellectual-property questions directly with the accountable team.
What sensor does the docked drone carry, and can its feed reach a command layer?
The published sortie is 45 minutes with an EO/IR payload on a 4,000 g drone; the exact sensor detail beyond EO/IR is a technical-review point. The drone produces an EO/IR feed, and the same principal builds a separate fleet command-and-control suite designed to aggregate telemetry across drones and to fit any drone with no airframe modification. We do not publish a proven integration for this aircraft, so scope the sensor fit and the command integration together and confirm the integration at trial rather than assuming it.
How is a vehicle-mounted autonomous dock kept sovereign?
By sourcing the dock, its drone and its support from one independent, non-aligned team with in-region sustainment. The dock is mounted on your vehicles and its drone shows what your crews see, so that independent, non-aligned origin with one accountable team and in-region sustainment is the sovereign position, and the vehicle-adaptive fit is settled with the same accountable team.
Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock: questions
What is Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock?
Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock is Unstrat's Sky (Air Domain) capability: A vehicle-mounted dock that lets a drone land, change its own battery and relaunch without a hand on it. Vision-based precision landing puts the aircraft on the pad, the dock adapts to the vehicle it rides on, and hot-swap battery handling keeps the mission running: a 4,000 g drone flies a 45-minute sortie with an EO/IR payload, and the dock sustains more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission across swap cycles. The drone launches from up to 2,500 m above sea level, cruises to 15 m/s, and navigates on GPS with visual backup in manual or automatic modes. It has been integrated and tested on a main battle tank, with autonomous operation validated in the field and the swap cycle completed with no manual intervention. Patent pending.
How does Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock work?
Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock delivers its effect through Vision-based precision landing onto the pad, Vehicle-adaptive docking with hot-swap battery handling and 45-minute sortie with an EO/IR payload on a 4,000 g drone, capabilities matched to the requirement and confirmed under briefing rather than published.
Who makes Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock?
Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock is built by The Heavy-Payload UAS House, whose focus is heavy-lift and isr unmanned aircraft. Unstrat represents The Heavy-Payload UAS House to government and enterprise buyers worldwide as an independent, non-aligned prime vendor.
Why choose Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock over a major-power alternative?
Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock is sourced from an independent, non-aligned manufacturer, so it carries no major-power disclosure rules, upgrade-locks or political ramifications. Concretely: integrated and tested on a main battle tank, with autonomous operation validated in the field. The capability is accountable to you, not to a foreign vendor's government and its release schedule.
How is Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock procured, and where can it be exported?
A vehicle-mounted dock that keeps a drone flying across battery cycles with no hand on it: vision-based precision landing, vehicle-adaptive docking, and more than 2.5 hours of continuous mission. Every engagement begins with a briefing, and export eligibility is confirmed per market under briefing rather than published. Where controlled capabilities are involved, the classification and end-user-certificate chain is confirmed first. Autonomous docking and battery-swap dock is then sustained in-region by one accountable team from briefing through long-term operation.