After a careful selection process, Indra, an IT company from Spain opted for maritime surveillance solution offered by Enterprise Control Systems Ltd together with its partners.
This airborne system has been selected as it is cost effective in comparison with other options. The aircraft was expected to start operations in 2012. It is equipped with the ability to patrol maritime areas within the range of 50 to 200 NM offshore.
Indra is a European household name in IT. It is steps ahead in the development of systems used for surveillance in maritime surveillance issues. Their systems are used in Spain, Latvia, Romania, Portugal and Hong Kong. The company leads in the PERSEUS Project that aims at securing all the borders of the borders of European countries by making use of intelligent surveillance. The firm is currently working on light aircraft equipped with sophisticated technology to help monitor the seas.
The state-of-the-art aircraft will be available at competitive cost on acquisition as well operation costs. At the end of 2012 the aircraft was expected to be ready for use in various ways. Some of the purposes it will be used for include rescue missions, environmental protection, guarding of fleets on fishing expeditions and tracking illegal immigrants and drug traffickers. These are just a few of the uses of the new aircraft.
The coast guard keeps watch over maritime zones using medium sized helicopters. This surveillance will be done more effectively at reduced cost. The cost of running the new aircraft will be lower than what is needed to maintain the current choppers. The aircraft will be equipped with the latest maritime surveillance systems specifically designed for the purpose.
The twin engine aircraft is built on Tecnam’s P2006T platform. The aircraft is twin-engine and very easy to pilot. It uses traditional fuel which serves to lower the cost of operation. Its maintenance costs are also low and can land and take-off on improvised runways. Authorities with tight budgets are able to buy and maintain the aircraft.
In the past, maritime surveillance was hampered by the high cost of operations. With the new platform, it will be possible to monitor larger areas more frequently. Thus, it will help in ensuring borders and coastlines are secure at all times, particularly with the current high insecurity in many parts of the world.
The involvement of ECS and other partners has brought together experience and knowledge to this project to help take surveillance to a new level. The combined intelligence will help in making rescue missions cheaper and more effective. Indra is in the process of developing a system that allows the fast collection of data and its presentation to the operator.
The new system supports two-way bidirectional communication with the ground station. This will occur real time as the new maritime surveillance system is able to integrate the generated information and process it. This is possible because of the use of EVENLODE Data Terminal that has been developed by ECS. This new development will go a long way in enhancing global security.