8 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
In response to a request from the Environmental Protection Department of Lithuania's Ministry of the Environment, EMSA is providing the country with Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) services to assist in monitoring ship emissions, protect the marine environment and improve maritime safety.
The services which began on 23 March will run for three months and will see EMSA RPAS being used to calculate the sulphur content of the fuel being used by the passing ships. Sensors on board the RPAS will measure the emissions from the exhaust plumes of vessels travelling in the main shipping lanes and when at anchorage around the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. The sulphur content of marine fuel in this Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) should be no greater than 0.1%.
While great interest has been shown in the emissions monitoring capability of EMSA's RPAS service, the Environmental Protection Department will also be working in collaboration with other Lithuanian authorities - including the Navy, MRCC and fisheries control services – to conduct other types of maritime surveillance missions.
The aircraft being used for this service is the Schiebel CAMCOPTER® S100 and it is under contract to EMSA via a consortium led by Nordic Unmanned AS. The model is a vertical take-off and landing drone and is fitted with gas sensors and cameras covering optical and infrared spectral ranges to better detect vessel plumes and conduct maritime surveillance as required.
All the information is transmitted in real-time to trained users through EMSA's RPAS Data Centre. Records of the emission measurements are encoded automatically into the THETIS-EU information sharing system. This system is operated by EMSA to assist in the enforcement of the EU sulphur directive as well as to support port inspectors when targeting vessels to be inspected.
ABOUT RPAS
RPAS services, offered free to all EU Member States by EMSA, have been developed to assist in ship emission monitoring and maritime surveillance operations and can operate in all seas surrounding the European Union. RPAS services can provide support to traditional coast guard functions, including search and rescue and pollution prevention and response. The services are offered to Member States individually and as part of EMSA's regional RPAS strategy, which allows multiple coast guard functions in several EU Member States to be supported by one or more RPAS services. Further expansion of RPAS regionally is planned in 2021 and 2022.
ABOUT EMSA
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a decentralised agency of the EU, based in Lisbon, Portugal. EMSA serves the EU's maritime interests for a safe, secure, green and competitive maritime sector through support for pollution prevention and response, maritime surveillance, safety and security, digitalisation and the provision of integrated maritime services, and technical assistance.
Any requests for further information can be sent to: information@emsa.europa.eu
21 juin 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Belgian aerospace company Sabca has signed a framework agreement with American arms giant Lockheed Martin, which could lead to a contract worth 500
9 août 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The U.S. is seeing the need more and more to become increasingly interoperable with allies when it comes to missile defense, but there are many challenges still to overcome, according to a panel of former and current missile defense stakeholders at the August 7 Defense News Missile Defense Networking Reception. “Probably the challenge that we struggle with the most with regards to our foreign partners is increasing and enhancing our cross-domain solution capability,” Col. Francisco Lozano, the Army's project manager for the service's Lower Tier Project office within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, said. “So not only just the ability to share information between our international partners in a given combat scenario but actually to do it at a high enough fast data rate so that the information is relevant and actionable.” The Army has worked toward this in exercises in Europe specifically, not just focusing on missile defense, but all levels of information sharing as it attempts to tie together systems and networks so, if the coalition had to respond in a crisis, information would flow more freely and in a more timely fashion for allies and partners to fight together. “So that becomes important for us to continue to improve, especially as just U.S. defense systems in general proliferate across multiple different countries” Lozano said. The colonel noted that the Army is finding ways to learn from its partners and allies that are involved in regular combat operations even if they are not directly connected system-to-system. “We stay tied in very closely with them and it has become a great partnership situation where we are continuing and able to work very closely in their country to understand the execution of engagements, what impacts are on certain systems and certain environments operated 24/7 for very long periods of time, understand the relevancy of certain threats and how those threats are employed and then improve those through [tactics, techniques and procedures] and [concepts of operations] not only for a given country but also for ourselves,” Lozano said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/smd/2018/08/08/missile-defense-info-sharing-with-allies-still-a-challenge-as-need-to-operate-together-grows/
1 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Land Systems' Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned ground system program of record. The initial contract for the eight-wheel drive robotic vehicle totals $162.4 million and includes support hardware, user training and technical support. The contract will wrap up at the end of October 2024, according to an Oct. 30 Defense Department announcement. GDLS will produce 624 systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, program under the contract and will begin delivery in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an Army spokesperson confirmed to Defense News. Four companies were chosen at the end of 2017 to compete to build the robotic vehicle that will help troops carry equipment on the battlefield. A team of Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems and Howe & Howe were selected to build 20 platforms each that were issued to two infantry brigade combat teams for testing and analysis of utility in the field. Polaris' MRZR X was evaluated as well as HDT's six-wheel drive Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower. Textron-owned Howe & Howe offered its Grizzly unmanned vehicle, which is powered by an electric engine. HDT's Global Hunter WOLF was recently picked, along with three other teams to include Textron and QinetiQ North America, to compete to build vehicles for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light effort. The Army selected those teams from an array of companies chosen to participate in a demonstration event in the fall of 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other companies that participated in that demonstration included American Robot Company; Lockheed Martin; AM General; Robo-Team NA; and QinetiQ North America. For the SMET program, the Army was looking for a vehicle that can carry about 1,000 pounds worth of soldier equipment. This equates to lightening the load of nine soldiers across an infantry squad. The Army wanted the robots to be able to travel 60 miles over three days and to be able to provide a spare kilowatt hour of power while moving and at least 3 kilowatt hours while stationary. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/31/heres-the-robotic-vehicle-that-will-carry-equipment-for-us-troops/