The U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, in cooperation with local Coast Guard units, will be carrying out test and evaluation of unmanned surface vehicles off the south shore of Oahu from October 7 through November 5.
The tests will focus on autonomous vessel systems from Saildrone and Spatial Integration Systems, as well as a USCG owned autonomous research vessel made by Metal Shark.
This evaluation will examine each vessels’ ability to provide persistent maritime domain awareness, especially in remote areas of the oceans.
According to USCG, while potentially applicable to many USCG missions, it is possible that these technologies will help enable USCG to better protect critical natural living marine resources from Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and other illicit activities.