Schiebel has announced that in late August, its Camcopter S-100 UAS performed a five-day maritime surveillance demonstration aboard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Turva in the Gulf of Finland, as part of test trials by the Border and Coast Guard Division of the Finnish Border Guard.

Flying both during the day and at night, the UAS completed a variety of tasks including searching, locating and recognizing objects, as well as surveillance for maximum situational awareness.

The test was part of the ongoing Valvonta2 -project (Surveillance2), which is being led by Finnish Border Guard, and funded by European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

“As we have seen during the trials, maritime ISR and search operations can derive significant benefits from the use of UAS,” explains Hans Georg Schiebel, chairman of the Schiebel Group.

“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.”

According to Schiebel, its Camcopter S-100 UAS was chosen for the trials because of its “outstanding reputation as a proven and reliable UAS for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.” The UAS can also be equipped with an array of payloads that can meet the specific requirements of customers.

Schiebel notes that to achieve its assigned tasks, its Camcopter S-100 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.