USCG Leverages Scan Eagle for the Cutter Fleet
After being awarded a United States Coast Guard (USCG) contract award, Insitu’s ScanEagle UAS will be used to provide small UAS ISR services aboard the entire U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter fleet.
Valued at approximately $117 million, the service contract covers the installation and deployment of small UAS for 200 hours per 30-day operational patrol period. ScanEagle will be used for a variety of tasks, including conducting surveillance, detection, classification and identification operations.
The UAS will also be used to “support prosecution” by providing real-time imagery, data, target illumination, communications relay and other capabilities to the fleet, as well as other government platforms as needed.
Just two years ago, Insitu won the contract to provide small UAS ISR services aboard one National Security Cutter, the USCGC STRATTON. By January of this year, ScanEagle had directly assisted the ship’s crews in seizing more than $1.5 billion of cocaine and heroin, as it played a major role in the USCG’s record-breaking year for drug busts in 2017.
“When ScanEagle initially deployed with the STRATTON, we recognized what an incredible opportunity we had to partner with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring dynamic improvements to mission effectiveness and change aviation history,” says Don Williamson, vice president and general manager, Insitu Defense.
The contract award also marks a major milestone for the acquisition process, notes Cmdr. Daniel Broadhurst, who served as unmanned aircraft systems division chief in the Office of Aviation Forces.
“The sUAS has already proven itself to be a transformational technology, and the deployment of this capability to the entirety of the NSC fleet is an incredibly important first step in realizing the Coast Guard’s vision of fleet-wide UAS implementation,” Broadhurst says.
“The Coast Guard is excited to award the contract for the service’s first class-wide sUAS to Insitu.”