SeaGuardian stands watch

SeaGuardian stands watch

BY RICHARD SCOTT

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) is highlighting the capabilities of its SeaGuardian unmanned aerial system (UAS) on stand 03-C34. Building on the pedigree of the widely sold MQ-9B mediumaltitude, long-endurance UAS, the SeaGuardian is a derivative specifically optimised for persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The company believes that a more robust ISR capability would also allow regional forces to conduct persistent ‘overwatch’ around the Bab-el-Mandeb chokepoint and the Strait of Hormuz.

With a range of 6,000-plus nautical miles, SeaGuardian boasts endurance of more than 40 hours. “GA-ASI flew an MQ-9B for 48.2 hours on 2,721kg of fuel in May 2017,” said Jim Thomson, regional vice president of international strategic development for GA-ASI. “Providing greater endurance at lower operating cost, SeaGuardian is ideally suited to complement manned maritime patrol aircraft in performing widearea maritime surveillance.”

Nine external hardpoints on the MQ-9B offer configurability to meet diverse mission requirements. In the basic ISR configuration, the standard SeaGuardian is equipped with an HD electro-optical/ infrared (EO/IR) sensor and a high-performance 360° multimode maritime radar to support maritime patrol and surveillance.

Capable of operating at beyond-line-of-sight ranges at altitudes more than 40,000ft and in inclement weather conditions, SeaGuardian uses EO/IR fullmotion video, synthetic aperture radar imagery and groundmoving target indication outputs to identify potential threats in real time from stand-off ranges. Furthermore, it can be equipped with a multimode maritime search radar, an inverse synthetic aperture radar capability, and an automatic identification to confer a true maritime wide-area search capability.

The MQ-9B air vehicle leverages the mature system architecture of the legacy MQ-9A and its more than two million flight hours, while incorporating enhancements that support mission capability, global industrial expertise, and its goal of achieving unfettered access to national and international airspace.

New SwarmDiver debuts

Just a year after the launch of its original SwarmDiver product, US company Aquabotix (Stand C-026) is introducing the new SwarmDiver EDGE into its family of micro-sized underwater vehicles during NAVDEX.

SwarmDivers are ultra-portable, single-person deployable microunmanned hybrid vehicles capable of operating in swarms on or below the water surface. The latest SwarmDiver EDGE has been designed to provide alert of threats from manned and unmanned vehicles, including militarised vehicles and hobby drones with explosives, or swimmers planting improvised explosive devices.

Utilising a swarm of SwarmDiver EDGE vehicles equipped with high-intensity lights creates a visual boundary to act as a first-line deterrent along a shoreline, around a vessel or docking area, or near any other infrastructure of interest. According to Aquabotix, this capability allows operators to control a swarm of many vehicles remotely, and from a safe distance, while ensuring security in the face of threats from militants or terrorist groups.

The first public demonstration of SwarmDiver EDGE will take place at NAVDEX at 18.00 on Wednesday 20 February. ■