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Acquisition Update: Coast Guard Selects Small UAS For NSC

sUAS
The ScanEagle sUAS will augment the national security cutter's embarked manned helicopter capability with 12 hours of continuous flight time and up to 200 hours of on-station sensor data per month. Courtesy photo.

June 28, 2016

The Coast Guard has selected the ScanEagle small unmanned aircraft system produced by Insitu Inc. of Bingen, Washington, to deploy from Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, a national security cutter stationed in Alameda, California. The service plans to deploy the system in 2017.

The Coast Guard procured this contractor-owned and -operated system under a pre-existing multiple award contract executed by the Naval Air Systems Command. The $4.5 million order was awarded on June 24 and includes operation, integration, maintenance and sparing of the system for one year. The order has a total potential value of $12.3 million that includes options to deploy and receive data from the system for up to three additional years beyond the base year. The Coast Guard will have full ownership of the surveillance data obtained.

The ScanEagle deployment will be used to generate data, provide operational performance information and assist with the development of logistics plans. This information will be used to refine the Coast Guard’s strategy for the procurement of sUAS systems for its entire NSC fleet.

“This task order award begins to build the foundation for the next generation of Coast Guard aviation,” said Jeff Bishop, program manager of Coast Guard sUAS acquisition. “Having a UAS on board the NSC has been a long time in the making, and we look forward to the benefit this new capability brings to the NSC fleet.”

The deployment of unmanned systems will enhance the NSC fleet’s capability to provide persistent, tactical airborne surveillance. It will augment the NSC’s embarked manned helicopter capability with 12 hours of continuous flight time and up to 200 hours of on-station sensor data per month.

The ScanEagle has a 10-foot wingspan, flight endurance of more than 24 hours, and a maximum weight of 48.5 pounds with the electro-optical or infrared sensor payloads it can carry. The NSC will deploy the sUAS via a portable rail launch system and recover it via a hook and lanyard system.

The Coast Guard’s UAS acquisition strategy is to procure technologically mature systems or services in commonality with existing Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense programs.

For more information: Unmanned Aircraft System program page

Last Modified 1/25/2017