The Finnish Border Guard is once again operating the CAMCOPTER® S-100 for implementing coast guard functions in the Baltic Sea. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) service is offered by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
Based at a coast guard station in Hanko, Finland, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 is supporting the Finnish authorities in carrying out Coast Guard functions, such as maritime border surveillance, search, and rescue, monitoring and surveillance, ship and port security, vessel traffic monitoring, environmental protection and response, ship casualty assistance, as well as accident and disaster response. The information collected in the Baltic Sea from the on-board RPAS system is shared in parallel with multiple Member States, allowing for a common maritime picture and more comprehensive coordination. The operations will continue until end of July.
The S-100 will execute these tasks equipped with an L3 Wescam Electro-Optical / Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera gimbal, an Overwatch Imaging PT-8 Oceanwatch, a Becker Avionics BD406 Emergency Beacon Locator and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver.
This deployment comes on top of two other CAMCOPTER® S-100 operations for EMSA currently being carried out in Estonia and Romania conducting maritime surveillance. It is also the third deployment for the Finnish Border Guard, after a trial in 2019.
Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, said: “Another great example of enhanced maritime surveillance and information sharing capabilities of our CAMCOPTER® S-100. Since contract begin, we have conducted operations all over Europe and are proud to play such an important role in EMSA’s services for its member states.”
