Vienna-based Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 unmanned air system (UAS) is successfully performing shipboard trials during its capability demonstration to the South African Navy.
Conducted at False Bay in Western Cape, South Africa, the trial saw S-100 conducting flights from the deck of the South African Navy’s Hecla class deep ocean hydrographic survey vessel SAS Protea.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The Camcopter S-100 is capable of conducting a range of missions, including general surveillance, border patrol, fire control, target designation, damage assessment, mine detection, and other marine roles.
It can also perform search and rescue operations, aerial photography, and even crowd-control in civil applications.
In addition, the system will be able to gather images with an electro-optical, infrared camera, to detect and to identify electronic signatures with an ESM antenna and to use a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in real-time with only one system.
According to Schiebel, the system is a much needed asset for situational awareness and timely communications.
The South African Navy and a number of delegates from other South African governmental authorities could convince themselves of these capabilities, the company stated.
During the trial, the UAS performed automatic takeoffs and landings and all other required manoeuvres with the support of its integrated GPS-independent positioning system.
In June, Schiebel conducted flight demonstrations of its Camcopter S-100 UAS to display the multi-sensor capability of the system to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
The flights were aimed at demonstrating the capability of the advanced rotary wing UAS to support maritime and littoral intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) tasks.
Image: The Camcopter S-100. Photo: courtesy of Schiebel Corporation.
