On October 19, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) commenced flight operations using a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, to perform Maritime Wide Area Search (MWAS) over the Sea of Japan/East Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Other missions of the RPA will include search and rescue, disaster response, and maritime law enforcement.
SeaGuardian features a multi-mode maritime surface-search radar with an Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging mode, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver, and 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.
The drones also provide all-weather capability and full compliance with NATO UAS airworthiness standard. This feature, along with the collision-avoidance radar, enables flexible operations in civil airspace.
