Page 10 - ADT MAY-JUNE 2022 Online Magazine

Guarding the Asia-Pacific region are investing heavily on [ UNMANNED SYSTEMS ]

unmanned solutions for maritime missions.

Ocean Guardians
The platforms chosen, range from Boeing
the Seas Insitu-made ScanEagle, Northrop Grumman
MQ-4C Triton to Israel’s Elbit Systems’ the
Hermes 900 MALE UAV and Israel Aerospace
Industries (IAI)- made Harop systems.
Recently, Hermes 900 Unmanned Aerial
System (UAS) successfully completed a series
of flight demonstrations for the U.K. Maritime
and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The demon-
stration was run by the MCA and were designed
BESIDES EUROPEAN UNION, LEADING NAVIES IN to test the capabilities of using a UAS to
THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION ARE ALSO INVESTING enhance Search and Rescue (SaR) capabilities.
HEAVILY IN UNMANNED SOLUTIONS FOR In the recent demonstration, the Hermes 900
MARITIME MISSIONS equipped with search and rescue specific radar,
an Automatic Identification System (AIS), EO/
IR payload, an Emergency Position-Indicating
Jay Menon Radio Beacon (EPIRB) and full satellite commu-
nications, was deployed on a range of missions
Unmanned aircraft coupled with powerful satellite communication that simulated shore-line rescues, water res-
have taken maritime awareness to the next level. Unmanned sys- cues in dangerous air space and long-distance
tems are becoming an increasingly essential part of the world’s ship rescues which crossed international air
fleets as modern navies seek new ways to complete danger- space lines. With a wingspan of 15m, the 1.2
ous tasks. To enable this, besides the United States, the United ton, Hermes 900 is already deployed with more
Kingdom, Canada, France and the Middle East, leading navies in than a dozen advanced customers around the

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