Schiebel Camcopter S-100 Supports European Coastguard Functions in France and Belgium

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) contracted Schiebel to support multi-purpose maritime operations with its Unmanned Air System (UAS) CAMCOPTER® S-100 in La Manche and the southern section of the North Sea.

The operation aimed to assist the maritime authorities of Belgium and France across a variety of coast guard functions including emission monitoring. Stationed at the Gris-Nez Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the Pas-de-Calais Department of France, the S-100 supported on request both participating countries within an airspace validated by the civil aviation authority depending on the areas flown over. The UAS provided enhanced support for maritime safety, search and rescue, maritime surveillance, environmental protection and maritime accident and disaster response.

The operationally mature S-100 executed these tasks equipped with multiple sensors, a Trakka TC-300 EO/IR sensor, an Explicit Mini Sniffer for emission monitoring, a Becker Avionics BD406 Emergency Beacon Locator, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver and a Mode-S Transponder ADSB out.

“We have been supporting EMSA since 2018. The CAMCOPTER® also helped in several search and rescue operations. The S-100 saves valuable response time and enables a quick and efficient way of scanning large areas even for very small objects and anomalies at sea,” said Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group.