Schiebel Camcopter S-100 and Nordic Unmanned Carry Out World's 1st Full-scale Offshore UAV Flight for Equinor

Schiebel,  together  with  partner  Nordic  Unmanned,successfully  demonstrated  to  Norwegian  energy  company  Equinor  the  cargo  delivery capability of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) CAMCOPTER® S-100 to offshore  platform  Troll  A.  This  is  a  world’s first  in  terms  of  full-scale  offshore  UAV delivery from shore to an active oil and gas installation.

The  exercise  simulated the  scenario of an  urgent  requirement  for specific essential spare  parts  at  the  gas  production  platform  Troll  A.  The  CAMCOPTER® S-100 successfully carried out the long-range delivery flight from Mongstad, where the spare parts  were  3D-printed,  to  the  offshore  platform  Troll  Alocated  in  the  North  Sea.  The  unmanned delivery  distance was  100 km  (55 nm).  After the  UAV  supplied  the  spare  parts,  it  carried  out  a  close  inspection  around  the  platform  before  it  headed  back  to  Mongstad.

The flight trials also included a successful Search and Rescue (SAR) mission, where a “man over board” dummy was quickly located by the UAV, transmitting the positioning data  and  live  images  using the  L3  Harris  Wescam  real-time  Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera and an Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Hans  Georg  Schiebel,  Chairman  of  the  Schiebel  Group,  said:  “This  was  the  perfect  trial  to  show  off  the  exceptional maritime  capabilities  of  the  S-100for  the  oil  and  gas  industry. We have extensive experience in long-range unmanned flights, especially in the  maritime  domain  and under adverse  weather  conditions.  The  S-100  was  able  to  show  off  its  outstanding  capabilities and  we  have  proven  once  again that  the  S-100 UAV is the superior choice.”