Maritime Surveillance Drone Testing to Begin this Summer

The AR5 Life Ray UAS, developed by TEKEVER, has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to demonstrate the first European maritime surveillance system where drones are integral to operations. The first demonstration will be performed this summer over the Maltese waters of the Mediterranean sea, said Pedro Sinogas, TEKEVER CEO, at the AUVSI Xponential show in New Orleans, La.

Maritime operations have been brought into focus in Europe by the unprecedented migrant crisis. As part of the response to this crisis the EU border patrol agency FRONTEX has recently announced that it is in the planning phase of adding remotely piloted aircraft to its existing portfolio of satellite and sensor technologies for monitoring vessel traffic and migrant flows.

“During the demonstration in Malta, TEKEVER’s systems will be deployed from land and will perform operations across a range of maritime scenarios during the four to six weeks of testing,” Sinogas said.

This project is demonstrating the benefits of deploying unmanned aircraft in the dual roles of pollution monitoring and search and rescue, according to TEKEVER, who said the project has developed the business case to deploy unmanned aircraft to augment, or even replace, existing assets such as satellites, manned aircraft and ships.

TEKEVER said it is working with maritime authorities from across the EU, coordinated with EMSA and will demonstrate operations in the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea across a wide range of environmental conditions.