-- Proven Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) completes successful operations during 
a five-day trial for the Finnish Border Guard 


Insitu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, deployed its 
industry-leading ScanEagle UAS aboard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Turva to 
demonstrate its unmatched maritime domain awareness capabilities during a 
five-day trial for the Finnish Border Guard. The test was part of the ongoing 
Valvonta2 project (Surveillance2), led by the Finnish Border Guard and funded 
by European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1019783/Insitu_ScanEagle.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/685528/INSITU_Logo.jpg

The demonstration occurred in early October in the Gulf of Finland during 
meteorological conditions that would have grounded most unmanned aircraft 
systems. Launching and recovering through scattered rain showers, two- to 
four-meter waves and winds up to 40 knots, ScanEagle demonstrated its potential 
value to Finnish government agencies during challenging weather and without 
interfering with manned helicopters on the ship's flight deck. Insitu systems 
have a proven operational record of 60,000 shipboard flight hours aboard more 
than 28 classes of ships.

ScanEagle performed two of the trial's five flights equipped with the ViDAR 
sensor manufactured by Sentient Vision Systems of Melbourne, Australia. ViDAR 
enables ScanEagle to automatically perform persistent, wide-area maritime 
search covering 80 times the area that can be searched by conventional cameras. 
Two of the flights were performed with the Alticam 09EO2 and one flight was 
performed with the Alticam 09MWIR3.5, both manufactured by Hood Tech Vision of 
Hood River, Oregon, USA. With its 170X optical zoom, Alticam 09EO2 enables 
ScanEagle to closely inspect maritime and shore-based activities from distances 
sufficient to remain undetected. Alticam 09MWIR3.5 offers the flexibility to 
support day-to-night missions by combining a medium-wave infrared imager and 
laser pointer with an electro-optical sensor.  

The lightweight payloads demonstrated offer performance comparable to larger 
sensors, but at a fraction of the size and weight. As configured for the trials 
aboard OPV Turva, ScanEagle can operate for up to sixteen hours while consuming 
less than 5.5 kilograms of kerosene-based JP-5 fuel per flight.

"These trials demonstrated the merits of the ScanEagle and our SkyHook recovery 
system while operating aboard a ship that is pitching and rolling under high 
seas and strong winds," said Dave Funkhouser, Insitu's Business Development 
Executive for Northern Europe. "ScanEagle continues to be the platform of 
choice for many navies and coast guards around the world because it provides a 
user friendly and cost-effective ISR solution that can operate from ships of 
all sizes, even during the challenging weather we experienced aboard Turva." 

About Insitu 
With offices in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, Insitu creates and supports 
unmanned systems and software technology that deliver end-to-end solutions for 
collecting, processing and managing sensor data. To date, our systems have 
accumulated more than one million flight hours. Insitu is a wholly owned 
subsidiary of The Boeing Company. 

Contact:     
Jenny Beloy
Insitu Defense Media Relations
+1 509.637.6196
jennifer.beloy@insitu.com 
 

SOURCE: Insitu