In November, Schiebel’s S-100 Camcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) finished its third mission with the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) charity assisting the rescue of stranded refugees in the Mediterranean fleeing war-torn North African and Middle Eastern areas.
The S-100 has been providing support to MOAS search and rescue operations in the region since 2014. The aircraft is flown from the MOAS ship the MY Phoenix. Over the past three years, approximately 30000 people have been rescued and, according to Anne Fontanet, a Schiebel spokesperson: “the S-100 is an incredibly valuable asset for ship-borne search and rescue operations.”
The S-100 UAV carries a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and optronics, which provides wide-area situational awareness. As such, it enables crewmembers: “to locate migrants in distress even well beyond the horizon and far quicker than it would be possible without the use of the UAV,” continues Ms. Fontanet. This information can be shared with other agencies, ships and aircraft assisting the rescue, the company continued.
Schiebel added that, currently, no definite decision has been made to carry out another MOAS mission in 2017. Nevertheless, if another one were to take place: “given the positive experience of the last three joint missions, Schiebel is certainly open to continue supporting MOAS,” Ms. Fontanet stated. There will be no need to change the specifications and payloads of the S-100 as: “they turned out to be the perfect fit,” she concluded.
