MQ-9B Is the Solution for New Zealand’s Maritime Awareness Requirements

When Japan’s Coast Guard needed a long-endurance, highly versatile new maritime patrol aircraft for critical missions around its home islands, it selected the MQ-9B SeaGuardian. This decision offers many lessons for other Western Pacific nations and may prove instructive to New Zealand in addressing its requirement for All of Government Maritime Domain Awareness.

The SeaGuardian is the latest generation in a long-proven family of remotely piloted aircraft systems built by San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Larger and more capable than its sibling MQ-9A Reaper, the aircraft is tailor-made for users such as the Japan Coast Guard and others around the region.

For the Japan Coast Guard’s missions, SeaGuardian will be used to conduct wide-area maritime surveillance including search and rescue, disaster response, and maritime law enforcement. The Japanese government’s choice follows a series of successful Coast Guard flight trials that used SeaGuardian to validate the same missions in accordance with Japan’s “Policy on Strengthening the Maritime Security Systems.” Tokyo was so pleased with the trials that it decided to operate the MQ-9B full time.

The SeaGuardian features a multimode maritime surface-search radar with an Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging mode, an Automatic Identification System receiver, and a high-definition full motion video sensor equipped with optical and infrared cameras. This sensor suite enables real-time detection and identification of surface vessels over thousands of square nautical miles and provides automatic tracking of maritime targets and correlation of AIS transmitters with radar tracks. SeaGuardian has a full-spectrum radio frequency wave detection and direction system that can identify radar, communications, and emergency signals. The aircraft also can carry a huge variety of payloads, including additional search radars, networking support equipment and more.

The JCG SeaGuardian is an all-weather RPA and built for full compliance with international government certification standards. These features, along with an operationally proven collisionavoidance radar, will enable flexible operations in civil airspace. The aircraft doesn’t need special accommodations from air traffic controllers and other aircraft in the way older models of RPA once did. Its detect-and-avoid and other capabilities mean it can fly in mixed airspace no different from any other aircraft.

Integrated Intel Accompanying Japan’s new SeaGuardian and its Certifiable Ground Control Station is an innovative GA-ASI mission execution product called the System for Tasking And Real-time Exploitation, or STARE. It provides a common operating picture by integrating and displaying the wide range of surveillance information gathered by GA-ASI platforms. STARE also brings together data from a variety of external multi-domain data feeds, as well as tactical data from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. STARE lets operators seamlessly analyze and disseminate information about what’s happening to key decision makers as well as disparate stakeholders.

Another new feature of STARE is Optix, which lets users visualize real-time and historical data from numerous sources on a moving map display. Optix was developed by General Atomics’ Commonwealth Computer Research, Inc. (CCRi) and enables big data processing and analytics that turn multitudes of information into usable knowledge. Optix combines, correlates, and streamlines multiple sources of intelligence data so users can observe both strategic and tactical data sources and target track information.

For example, the system generates anomalous behavior alerts using artificial intelligence based on activities or behaviors of interest. Optix notes nefarious maritime activities such as vessel-to-vessel transfers, a vessel not broadcasting on AIS, and violations of an exclusive economic zone. These and other actions are detected automatically, and alerts generated for users’ map. That means that human intelligence officers or other personnel don’t need to stay glued to RPA sensor feeds or other intelligence inputs. The system watches for them. The goal is to decrease the number of people required to monitor and decipher all of the various feeds.

SeaGuardian aircraft and the supporting mission systems such as STARE would provide an extremely capable and cost-effective solution for New Zealand. They also offer considerable potential for New Zealand industry participation in the operation and ongoing support of the system, including the combination of STARE with New Zealandindigenous mission intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.