Following evaluations of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) aboard two of its National Security Cutters (NSC), the Coast Guard yesterday published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback from industry on small UAS (sUAS) systems that could meet persistent surveillance requirements for its high-endurance cutters.
 |
| ScanEagle UAS. Photo: Boeing |
The Coast Guard plans to use the information gained through the RFI to develop a Request for Proposal for a sUAS, which would be an interim capability until the service develops a longer-term solution for UAS to operate from its NSCs. Currently, the Coast Guard operates three Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII]-built NSCs and plans on having a fleet of eight of the cutters.
The RFI posted on the FedBizOpps.gov website maintained by the General Services Administration says the Coast Guard is looking for an sUAS that can remain airborne for 12 hours per day out to at least 75 nautical miles to extend the “eyes and ears of the NSC” to support surveillance, detection classification, identification and prosecution for all of the cutters missions in its maritime operating areas.
The RFI also says the requirement includes fully autonomous flight controls so that the sUAS can be operated by one person, including simultaneous use of all payloads that provide real-time information to the cutter. It also says the system must be launched, recovered and stowed quickly so as to minimize the impact on the ship’s crew and operations while a Coast Guard helicopter is tied down on the flight deck with unfolded rotor blades.
The Coast Guard’s budget request for FY ’14 calls for production of a UAS system in FY ’16. A Coast Guard spokesman told Defense Daily that funding already exists to do design activities.
The evaluations last year and this spring aboard two NSCs used the ScanEagle UAS, which is built by Boeing [BA].