Two V-200 “Sea Falcon” VTOL UAV on the helideck of German Navy’s corvette Braunschweig. Note, this is a relatively small ship, about the size of a 270, with a beam of 13.28 m (43 ft 7 in), about the same as a Hamilton class 378′. Picture by Commander of the German Naval Aviation.
UMS SKELDAR and Ultra Maritime unveiled their jointly developed anti-submarine warfare (ASW) solution at DSEI 2023…The solution, a Rotary Wing UAS providing an ASW sonobuoy dispensing capability, is based on the SKELDAR V-200 Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and was developed as part of a contract under the Canadian Department of National Defence’s (DND) Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program.
This is an interesting idea. By itself, without any weapon, it may not be very useful, but it might prove a useful addition to a mix that includes ASW helicopters on standby for prosecution and ships with gear for monitoring and interpreting sonobuoy transmissions.
The Skeldar doesn’t have the endurance of the Scan Eagle, used by the Coast Guard, but it does have a much higher payload weight, 40 kg (88 pounds) compared to Scan Eagle’s 5 kg (11 pounds) and Skeldar doesn’t require separate launch and recovery equipment. (As it seems in all aircraft, there is a tradeoff between payload and fuel.)
The extra payload weight may not make much difference if you can pack everything you want into that 5 kg on the Scan Eagle, but it does open up options, larger sensors, light logistics cargo runs, and the ability to drop things.
Other than sonobuoys and weapons there are a number of things we might want to be able to drop from a UAS: buoys to measure drift for a SAR case, radios or pumps to a vessel in distress, lifejackets, or inflatable rafts.
Wikipedia reports, UMS Skeldar V-200 UAS is used by the militaries of six nations. It is used by the German Navy on their K130 Braunschweig class corvettes (pictured above), and will be used by the Belgian and Netherlands Navies on their City class mine countermeasures vessels.
This is a Canadian program. The Canadian Navy uses Skeldar, CU-176 Gargoyle in Canadian service, on their DeWolf class Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). If the Canadian Navy chooses to continue development of this sonobuoy drop capability, presumably they will also use the UAS on some of their frigates, or perhaps they are working toward an ASW role for their AOPS.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
In German use the V-200 only carries a 13 kg EO/IR sensor with laser rangefinder as payload (for over-the-horizon targeting), i.e. in theory still has leeway for other possibilities.
5kg is 11 pounds not 110
@captnmike, thanks. I knew that. Must have been fat fingers.