Launcher · Drone in a box
A drone in a box, sized to your UAS
Silentis Umbra Box is a drone in a box launch unit, with recovery by configuration — a drone docking station on site, sized to a single large UAS. It is cued by your own detection system, launching operator-in-the-loop or autonomously as your rules of engagement set, with no crew standing by to open the box. Custom-built to the airframe you fly, on the same Launcher Core as the rest of the Umbra range.
The problem
Off-the-shelf docks fit one manufacturer's small drone
Most drone in a box docking stations on the market are sized for one vendor's own compact multi-rotor. Fly a larger interceptor, a payload-carrying UAS or a fixed-wing airframe and there is no box for it — you either shrink the aircraft to fit someone else's enclosure, or start a bespoke housing programme from a blank sheet.
A site that needs to keep a large UAS on standby — for air defence, ISR or a similar recurring mission — needs a housing built to that aircraft.
What Umbra Box delivers
A launch unit built around your aircraft, with recovery by configuration
Custom-sized housing
Custom-built to the airframe you fly. A weatherproof box protects the UAS and its systems between missions, sized for a single large-UAS site.
Launch on cue
Umbra Box opens and launches the UAS on a cue from your detection or command-and-control system, with no on-site staff needed to release the aircraft.
Recovery by configuration
Recovery and re-docking are available as part of the configuration, so Umbra Box can be ready for its next cue without a crew being sent to the site.
Launcher Core underneath
The same GNSS-independent launch, safe-launch-under-jamming and open-interface core carried across the Umbra range — adapted here to house and cycle a single large UAS, where the rest of the range houses a magazine of effectors — see the architecture.
Use cases
Where a standing large UAS earns its keep
Sensitive-site air defence
At an airport, a prison or a similar sensitive site, Umbra Box launches an interceptor UAS onto a validated track — the same cued pattern as Umbra Counter-UAS, sized here to a single large airframe on standby. An optional non-destructive capture payload nets the rogue drone in flight and carries it back to a safe location — low collateral risk and no debris over the site, with the drone kept substantially intact for forensic analysis.
Military & expeditionary readiness
Connected to site power, Umbra Box keeps a large UAS charged and ready; at a forward site or on a vehicle it launches on a cue from the site's detection or command-and-control system — the same cued pattern as the rest of the range, with no launch crew needing to already be on the ground when the cue comes.
Maritime and offshore
A large UAS housed and ready aboard a vessel or at an offshore platform, launched on a cue from the platform's own detection or command system. For a moving deck, Umbra Box can be supplied with an option for beacon-guided recovery, sized and built for the platform it rides on, with no crew standing by on deck.
Standing ISR from a fixed site
A large ISR UAS kept on charge from site power and ready at a remote or unstaffed site, launched on schedule or on cue with no crew flying it in; recovery by configuration. It keeps a persistent presence over a distant area without a forward operating base or personnel in the contested zone, and a continuous overhead presence deters adversary movement in its own right.
Integration
Plugs into the detection and C2 you already run
Umbra Box joins the sensors and C2 already covering the site.
| Cue sources | Radar · EO/IR · acoustic · third-party air defence · your C2 |
|---|---|
| Launch authorisation | Operator-in-the-loop or autonomous, set by your rules of engagement |
| Control station | Connects into your layered defence under your C2; a dedicated per-node ground control station is optional |
| Cue-in protocols | ASTERIX · Cursor-on-Target · SAPIENT |
| Interfaces | Open, documented, the same as the rest of the Umbra range |
| Qualification | To your programme's standards, completed on your programme; none held today |
Specifications
Specifications available on request
Umbra Box is custom-sized to your airframe, so its footprint, power and interfaces follow the aircraft it houses. Tell us the UAS and the site, and we'll size the unit and send full specifications.
Request a briefing