Innovative UK aerospace company Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), one of the world’s leading oceanographic institutions, with a heritage spanning more than six decades.

The MoU will deepen the relationship between the two organizations, facilitating knowledge exchange and supporting a potential future partnership involving the use of CAeS’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the ST-5 Stingray, for ocean monitoring.

The ST-5 ‘Stingray’ is being displayed for the first time in the market at Strategic Development Fund’s (SDF) static park pavilion S34, located at the Dubai Airshow 2025. SDF is an Abu Dhabi based investment entity, wholly owned by EDGE Group, and is Cranfield’s largest investor.

As part of the ARIA Forecasting Tipping Point program, NOC is leading the development of innovative ocean observing capabilities to study processes that could contribute to a potential shutdown of ocean convection in the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre.

The ST-5 ‘Stingray’ long-endurance multi-role drone is named in relation to its out shape and wingspan of 5.5 meters. The ST-5 ‘Stingray’ is a hybrid wing-body, unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which is being designed, built and tested in-house by CAeS to fly on hydrogen electric power, with enhanced operational capability, low cost of ownership and zero emissions at use.

CAeS’ heritage in UAS design and integration follows on from key concept aircrafts such as the X-48B/C, on which CAeS worked with Boeing and NASA for 11 years, focusing on the utilization of the blended wing to optimize the aerodynamic efficiency of the platform to maximize the volume, mass and integration of a variety of payloads. The ST-5 ‘Stingray’ has been designed to maximize flight efficiency, providing optimized aerodynamic performance, and the distributed propulsion system offers up to 60% more cargo volume when compared with conventional aircraft of a similar weight.

The design of the drone allows for a wide variety of applications, including cargo carrying, atmospheric research, search and rescue, and surveying. Given its payload capability and size, the platform can be adapted for the integration of surveillance equipment, or complex environmental sensing equipment for atmospheric research. The ST-5 ‘Stingray’ aircraft will be offered in multiple variants, offering increased payload or increased range and endurance.

The ST-5 project has moved at pace over the past few months, commencing in June 2025 and progressing through concept design, parts procurement, bench testing and structural manufacture and assembly. The aircraft is currently undergoing the installation of the propulsion system into the airframe structure by the CAeS team.

Paul Clarke, CTO, at CAeS commented, “The ST-5 development will be the first UAV platform designed specifically to maximize the potential of a hydrogen powertrain. The aerodynamic efficiency of the design, combined with the integration efficiency of our modular fuel cell technology, creates a step change in mission performance and provides significant real estate to accommodate diverse payloads. The complex environmental conditions and the fantastic technologies developed by the team and partners of NOC provide the difficult requirements and wicked challenges we love to solve. Our zero-emissions solutions create opportunities for scientific research without impacting the sensitive environments in focus.”

Professor Christine Gommenginger, principal scientist at NOC, said, ‘The Stingray UAV offers exceptional endurance and payload capacity, making it an attractive platform for advancing our goals of long-term, low-cost, zero-emission airborne data collection.’

‘This MoU strengthens our collaboration with CAeS to co-develop the platform for challenging marine conditions, ahead of a potential future joint airborne demonstration campaign’.

CAeS and NOC will work together to understand the requirements and the expected operational scenarios needed to acquire the necessary ocean observations in the open ocean and coastal environment.