After being chosen for one of the companies for test trials by the Border and Coast Guard Division of the Finnish Border Guard, Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Air System (UAS) performed a five-day maritime surveillance demonstration aboard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Turva.
The flight trials ran at the end of August in the Gulf of Finland. Day and night, the Vienna-based manufacturer reports, S-100 completed given scenarios including searching, locating and recognising objects as well as surveillance for maximum situational awareness. Representatives of the Finnish Defence Forces, Finnish Customs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, as well as Finnish Meteorological Institute, among others, attended. The test was part of the Valvonta2 project (Surveillance2), led by Finnish Border Guard and funded by European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
The S-100, described by its developers as a compact unmanned helicopter, can accommodate a variety of payloads, tailored to meet customer requirements, the makers add. It was equipped with the L3Harris Wescam MX-10 Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera, the Overwatch Imaging PT-8 Oceanwatch wide-area maritime surveillance payload and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver.
Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group said: “As we have seen during the trials, maritime ISR and search operations can derive significant benefits from the use of UAS. As a robust VTOL platform, the CAMCOPTER does not require any additional takeoff or recovery equipment, which makes it perfect for OPVs with small deck sizes. We are very pleased with the outcome of the trials and hope to be back in Finland soon.”
About the product
The Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS requires no prepared area or supporting equipment to enable launch and recovery. It operates by day and by night, under adverse weather the makers say, with a beyond line-of-sight capability out to 200 km / 108 nm, over land and sea. Its carbon fibre and titanium fuselage provides capacity for a range of payload and endurance combinations up to a service ceiling of 5,500 m / 18,000 ft. In a typical configuration, the S-100 carries a 34-kg / 75-lbs payload up to ten hours. Visit Schiebel.net.
