BASEL, Switzerland — UMS Skeldar’s V-200 unmanned helicopter has successfully completed five-day long surveillance flight trial demonstrations aboard the OPV Turva as part of the Valvonta2 project led by the Finnish Border Guard and funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, the company said in a release.

The project aims to achieve an understanding of how authorities could use unmanned aircraft for diverse and demanding operations at sea both now and in future scenarios.   

As part of the trials, UMS Skeldar’s V-200 completed multiple operational flights and successfully demonstrated a range of features including automatic takeoff and landing (ATOL) capabilities, vessel identification at different ranges and altitudes, search and rescue during day and night, Automatic Identification System and transponder demonstrations. To perform the missions, the Skeldar V-200 was simultaneously carrying a multiple sensor suite of AIS, Wescam MX-8 electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as the high-capacity Leonardo Pico-SAR synthetic aperture radar.   

“These flight trials demonstrate that the Skeldar V-200 platform is the perfect fully-developed ATOL choice for maritime missions,” said Stefan Hyltberg, program manager for UMS Skeldar. “Its adeptness at operating from a range of naval ships using market-leading heavy-fuel Hirth Engines in combination with its multiple sensor carrying capability give the Skeldar V-200 a real advantage over its competitors. Our team is proud to have its work recognized by the Finnish Border Guard.”    

The platform of choice for maritime-based missions worldwide, the V-200 has been previously selected by the German, Royal Canadian, Belgian and Royal Netherlands navies, providing embedded “eye in the sky” intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to enhance its capacity to perform primary and secondary missions.   

“As we have proven with these trials, the Skeldar V-200 continues to provide best-in-class capabilities for customers,” Hyltberg said “Continuous development of our Skeldar V-200 and V-150 aims to not only validate the platforms’ capabilities but also analyze customer requirements with a view to increasing the service suite UMS Skeldar provides.”    

AMARILLO, Texas — Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, celebrated the completion of the first AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter for the Kingdom of Bahrain Sept. 30, the company said in a release.  

Bell delivered the first of 12 production aircraft to Naval Air Systems Command as part of the 2019 foreign military sales contract. Foreign military sales of the AH-1Z bring the advanced, dedicated capabilities of the aircraft directly to international operators and help increase interoperability and amplify effectiveness of allied forces. The helicopter will be prepared for shipment to Bahrain with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) before being transported to Bahrain in 2022.  

“This is an extraordinary achievement by the H-1 Program and brings the Royal Bahraini Air Force a step closer to fielding the advanced capabilities of the AH-1Z,” said Mike Deslatte, Bell H-1 vice president and program director. “The men and women of Team Viper, a group of premier suppliers, have done an exceptional job of delivering to the U.S. government, on time and on contract.” 

Bell designed the AH-1Z Viper specifically to meet the stringent operational requirements of the U.S. Marine Corps, which focus on full marinization and a reduced logistical footprint. The aircraft has a fully integrated glass cockpit and the ability to carry a wide variety of munitions.  

The composite rotor system further enhances the Viper’s ability to provide close air support to ground forces in any environment, while the fully integrated Target Sight System enhances pilots’ capabilities to identify clearly, acquire, track and engage targets beyond maximum weapon range.  

“The Viper will provide significant benefits to the Bahrain Defence Force as they modernize their fleet of attack helicopters,” said Deslatte. “Having a proven state-of-the-art platform will help contribute to the security of Bahrain while improving interoperability with U.S. forces.”  

Bell continues to work to deliver aircraft to the U.S. Marine Corps, Bahrain and Czech Republic. The company also keeps the H-1 up to date with planned capability improvements designed to ensure the Viper maintains its strategic technological edge throughout its service life. 

BREMERTON, Wash. — SAFE Boats International has been awarded a $90 million firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for design, construction, outfitting, reactivation, and training for six Mk VI Patrol Boats with an option for two additional vessels, the company said in a release. 

This Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contract will provide Mk VI Patrol Boats to Ukraine via a U.S. State Department-approved agreement utilizing Building Partner Capacity and Foreign Military Financing funds. Work will be performed in Washington State and SAFE Boats expects to increase their workforce by creating up to 75 new positions, primarily at their Tacoma facility. Final delivery on the contract is slated for March 2025, or March 2026 if the option for additional vessels is exercised. 

“This award is the culmination of hard work and collaboration by the SAFE Boats Team, our supply chain partners, and the U..S government,” said Richard Schwarz, CEO of SAFE Boats International. “We are excited to be part of this important program and to have the opportunity to expand our workforce; no small feat in our current economy.”  

Propelled by HamiltonJet waterjets and twin, 2,600 horsepower, MTU 16V 2000 series diesel engines (5,200 horsepower total), the eighty-five-foot-long Mk VI Patrol Boat has a range of 600-plus nautical miles, a cruising speed of more than 25 knots with a sprint speed of more than 35 knots, and a draft of 4.5 feet, making it ideal for littoral operations.  

MISAWA, Japan — Two MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems returned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, following a deployment to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Misawa,NAF Misawa public affairs said Oct. 19. 

The deployment of an Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 (VUP-19) detachment and its two MQ-4C Tritons to Japan helped develop the concept of operations, including expeditionary basing, and fleet learning associated with high-altitude, long-endurance systems operations in the maritime domain. 
 
The two MQ-4C Tritons will continue to operate from their forward deployed location at Andersen Air Force Base to provide maritime surveillance and persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to the U.S. 7th Fleet in support of U.S. interests and regional allies. 
 
The MQ-4C Triton’s persistence and capabilities complement the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and are integral to the Navy’s Maritime Strategy. 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — In her first major keynote address since taking command, Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander of U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), discussed priorities and challenges ahead for the transportation enterprise today at the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA)-USTRANSCOM annual fall meeting, U.S. Transportation Command Public Affairs said in a release.  

Van Ovost thanked the NDTA and USTRANSCOM teams for orchestrating a “world-class logistics forum,” and said while new leadership brings a fresh perspective, “TRANSCOM’s mission is enduring and my number one priority remains the same — our warfighting readiness.”  

“We do this through a warfighting framework of three elements — global posture, mobility capacity, and global command and control and integration,” Van Ovost said. “Since World War II, we have enjoyed strategic dominance in each of the three areas and we have presented our nation’s leaders with options.”  

However, the general said the security environment is changing.  

“We now face direct challenges across all domains, threatening our ability to deliver an immediate force tonight, and a decisive force when needed,” she said.  

Discussing the enterprise’s footprint across the globe, Van Ovost said she is looking to attendees to innovate ways to prepare, package, and preposition materiel in order to improve deterrence and “progress to smaller force packages, operating from more austere places, and spanning greater distances.”  

She said capacity across the air and sea iskey. She committed to being “laser-focused on emphasizing a responsible ‘buy used’ strategy with the U.S. Navy,” in order to address the looming retirement of 34 of 50 vessels, and she also committed to “preserving necessary air mobility capabilities and capacity to ensure that we can deliver an immediate force tonight to meet our national security objectives.”  

Finally, Van Ovost highlighted the need for resilient and agile command and control, calling it “one of my highest areas of interest and frankly, concern.” She stressed the need for cooperation and mitigation efforts.  

“Our ever-growing number of cyber adversaries will be a challenge to all of us,” she said. “They have carefully studied our supply chain and transportation operations, and are actively working to disrupt and degrade logistics flows.” 

Van Ovost also mentioned recent successes, such as use of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet during the historic non-combatant evacuation operations, analysis of tanker capacity, and working leading to an upcoming global household goods contract.  

In closing, she referenced the meeting’s theme.  

“Resilient and Reliable … Agile and Adaptable must be more than a bumper sticker,” Van Ovost said. “The future all-domain contested environment requires our logistics enterprise to be resilient and reliable. Our warfighting framework must be agile and adaptable to deter potential adversaries, and if necessary, win decisively.  

“There is no second place when it comes to our national defense.”  

USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, TRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation’s leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries. 

NEW DELHI — Boeing is continuing to expand the Indian navy’s long-range maritime reconnaissance anti-submarine warfare capabilities with the delivery of the country’s 11th P-8I, the company said Oct. 18. The patrol aircraft is an integral part of the Indian navy’s fleet and has surpassed 30,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013. 

This is the third aircraft to be delivered under an option contract for four additional aircraft that the Indian Ministry of Defence awarded in 2016. The Indian navy was the first international customer for the P-8 and today operates the largest non-U.S. fleet. The P-8 is also operated by the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. 

In addition to unmatched maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the P-8I has been deployed to assist during disaster relief and humanitarian missions. 

Boeing supports India’s growing P-8I fleet by providing training of Indian navy flight crews, spare parts, ground support equipment and field-service representative support. Boeing’s integrated logistics support has enabled a high state of fleet readiness at the lowest possible cost. 

Boeing is completing construction on the Training Support & Data Handling Centre at INS Rajali, Arakkonam, in Tamil Nadu, and a secondary center at the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Kochi, as part of a training-and-support package contract signed in 2019. The indigenous, ground-based training will allow the Indian navy crew to increase mission proficiency in a shorter time, while reducing the on-aircraft training time resulting in increased aircraft availability for mission tasking. 

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Saildrone, a market leader in ocean data, ocean mapping, and maritime intelligence solutions, announced Oct. 18 the close of its $100 million Series C round, bringing its total funding to $190 million. 

Led by BOND, the round includes new investors XN, Standard Investments, Emerson Collective and Crowley Maritime Corp., as well as participation from previous investors, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Lux Capital, Social Capital and Tribe Capital. The new financing will be used to grow Saildrone’s data insight teams and scale go-to-market functions to meet the rapidly growing demand for ocean domain intelligence. 

Saildrone’s products are based on data collected from a fleet of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) powered primarily by renewable wind and solar power. Saildrone USVs have sailed over 500,000 nautical miles and clocked more than 15,000 days at sea in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. Recently, a Saildrone USV navigated to the heart of Hurricane Sam, in a world first, taking scientific measurements and HD video that stands to transform understanding of hurricane forecasting. 

Saildrone not only collects scientific data for climate intelligence and high-resolution bathymetric mapping of the ocean floor, it also uses proprietary machine learning to provide marine domain awareness for law enforcement and homeland security applications such as policing illegal fishing, counter narcotics operations and marine sanctuary protection. 

“We’re thrilled to partner with Saildrone as they build out the future of maritime intelligence, drawing on their unique technological differentiation and expansive mission history to serve customers across diverse industries,” said Noah Knauf, general partner at BOND, who will join the company’s board of directors. 

An American owned and operated company founded in 2012, Saildrone’s mission is to sustainably explore, map, and monitor the ocean to understand, protect, and preserve our world. Predominantly powered by renewable energy, Saildrone USVs have a minimal carbon footprint and are equipped with advanced sensors and embedded machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to deliver critical insights from any ocean, at any time of year. 

“We are honored to have the BOND team and our new investors join our journey,” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO. “The combination of the most tried and tested autonomous ocean technology with the partnership of some of the most experienced venture capitalists in the world consolidates our industry leadership and enables our rapid growth path to meet the needs of our customers.” 

The Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Centre of Excellence (CJOS COE) is conducting a virtual Maritime Security Regimes round table (MSR RT) Nov. 3-4.

With an international staff representing 13 nations, the CJOS COE is led by Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer — who is also Commander, U.S. SECOND Fleet and Commander, Joint Forces Command Norfolk — and is one of 27 NATO-accredited COEs, which serve as hubs for innovation and expertise.

The 2021 MSR RT theme is “Challenges and Threats in Global Maritime Security.” 

“As the host, CJOS COE aims to enhance knowledge and raise awareness on important issues in maritime security and, by doing so, support and preserve the interests of NATO Allies and partner nations,” said Royal Navy Commodore Thomas Guy, deputy director of CJOS COE.

Guy said the round table will bring maritime security stakeholders — military experts, academics, and representatives of the industry — together to exchange experiences, knowledge, and concerns in the field of Maritime Security. “Their participation and that of the greater community of interest will serve as an enriching forum to advance the achievement of a safer maritime domain within which everyone will be better prepared to face future challenges,” Guy said.

According to Cmdr. Nathaniel Hathaway, the MSR RT project officer, the round table is intended to bring about a better understanding of some of NATO’s most pressing geographical hot spots in terms of maritime security, the issues found there, and the challenges they pose. That includes understanding the most influential actors within those hot spots, their motivations, and how they are affected by the interests and actions of external global actors, as well as the international legal aspects of maritime activity, the intersection of naval activity and commercial shipping, and new more complex threats faced by the international community. 

“We want to share awareness across the community of some current at-sea operations, discuss technical and operational challenges, breakthrough technologies, and knowledge gaps to facilitate future research and collaboration across the community, and inform the maritime security community of the spectrum of work accomplished through the MSR RT working groups,” Hathaway said.

“Through a series of expert panels, the MSR RT will delve deeply into several of the most relevant and important issues in Maritime Security,” Hathaway said. “Challenges of the present will go hand in hand with opportunities for the future, as the MSR RT explores how the maritime security community of interest is addressing today’s threats while examining potential for future advantages.”

“We started the MSR roundtable in 2012 as a forum for sharing best practices and mutual education,” Guy said. “At that time,  NATO was more focused on maritime security instead of warfighting. Since then, NATO has focused much more on high-end warfare, but there still is a demand signal for global maritime security issues, and we’ve got a good pedigree in facilitating that.”

For more information, visit http://www.cjoscoe.org/?p=2083.  

One of the America’s most iconic ships, which sailed the high seas in the Revenue Cutter Service, Coast Guard and Navy from the Arctic to Antarctica, has been found on the bottom of the ocean. The  U.S. Revenue Cutter (USRC) Bear served for nearly 80 years before sinking in the North Atlantic in 1963, and now has been found.

“Today, I’m pleased to announce that with a reasonable degree of certainty, we found the final resting place of the historic revenue cutter Bear, a steamer ship purchased by the United States government in 1884. They went on to patrol the Arctic for 41 years,” said Rear Adm. Nancy Hahn, deputy director for operations of the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and deputy director of the NOAA commissioned officer corps.

“After nearly two decades of searching, NOAA Ocean Exploration, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program, the U.S. Coast Guard, and a number of academic research partners have located with reasonable certainty the final resting place of U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear,” said Brad Barr, expedition coordinator in the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program. 

The search for the location of the famous ship was conducted from Sept. 14 to 28, and located it approximately 260 miles due east of Boston and 90 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

The Oct. 14 announcement was made pierside next to the Coast Guard’s medium icebreaker USCGC Healy in Boston, which has just transited the Northwest Passage from the West Coast.

“Having served for nearly 80 years, including in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S. Navy, and as a ship of exploration in the Antarctic, Bear is considered one of the most historically significant ships in U.S. history for its long and meritorious service,” said Barr.

“Knowing where the wreck of Bear is located provides an opportunity to preserve what remains. Given its location in Canadian waters, whatever preservation of this significant historic site is deemed necessary and appropriate will be another story yet to be written,” Barr said.

The 198-foot, 700-ton ship was built by Alexander Stephen & Son of Dundee, Scotland, for the sealing trade in 1874. Bear entered government service and was deployed extensively in some of the most inhospitable waters on Earth. It was acquired by the U.S. government in 1884 for the Navy’s rescue mission to save the starving men of an Arctic expedition led by Army Lt. Adolphus Greeley.

The following year the Treasury Department placed it into service as a revenue cutter, spending more than four decades patrolling the Bering Straits and Arctic.

In 1897, under the command of Capt. “Hell Roaring” Mike Healy, Bear crewmembers conducted the famous “overland rescue of 1897.” Led by executive officer, Lt. Davis Jarvis and a rescue team that included 2nd Lt. Ellsworth Bertholf, U.S. Public Health Service Surgeon Samuel Call and three enlisted men, they drove a herd of 450 reindeer 1,600 miles to rescue the men of eight whaling ships stuck in the ice at Barrow, Alaska.

Alaska was a far more dangerous maritime frontier in the late 1800s than it is today. According to Coast Guard Historian Dr. By William H. Thiesen, “Bear secured witnesses for a murder case; transported Alaska’s governor on a tour of Alaska’s islands; shipped a U.S. Geological survey team to Mount Saint Elias; carried lumber and supplies for school construction in remote locations and the Arctic; delivered teachers to their assignments; carried mail for the U.S. Postal Service; enforced seal hunting laws in the Pribilof Islands; supported a Coast & Geodetic Survey team; provided medical relief to native populations; served life-saving and rescue missions; and enforced federal law throughout the waters and shorelines of Alaska.”

Bear reverted back to the Navy during World War I, and the supported relief operations in the in and around Alaska during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. It served until 1929, when it became a museum ship in Oakland, California.  But it didn’t stay in port for long.  Adm. Richard Byrd purchased the ship to support the 1933-35 and 1939-1941 Antarctic expeditions. When World War II broke out, Bear served again under a Navy commissioning pennant, patrolling the waters around Greenland.  After the war, the ship was sold with the intent it be returned to commercial service as a sealer, but the fur market was such that its owners abandoned it.  Eventually, a promoter saw a future for the storied ship as a restaurant and attraction and had it towed on a final voyage to Philadelphia in 1963, but it never arrived.

”At the time of the loss of Bear, it was already recognized as a historic ship,” said Joe Boyd, maritime heritage program coordinator for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The story the Bear doesn’t end with its loss in 1963. Instead, a new chapter in the Bear story opened when the search for the historic ship began in 1979 with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dr. Harold Edgerton, inventor of the side-scan sonar. He deployed his revolutionary technology from a Coast Guard buoy tender near the last known position of the Bear before it left the surface. They were unsuccessful in finding the Bear, but that effort launched a 40-year quest that included not only MIT, but the Canadian government, U.S. Navy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Coast Guard District One, the Chief Historians Office, Coast Guard Research and Development Center, the Coast Guard Academy and NOAA.

“Identifying the final resting place of the Revenue Cutter Bear is just another example of knowing that Coast Guard joining forces to do more collectively than either of us could do individually, and showing how we work together to advance our collective missions. What makes this effort to locate the Bear special is the partnership that made it possible and incredibly valuable experience we both gained during the search for the historic vessel,” said Hahn. 

“Each moment of the surveys that led to this exciting discovery was put to use to improve crew readiness, enhance skills essential to searching for sunken vessels, including adapting existing Coast Guard ships to deploy and recover remotely operated vehicles. NOAA has been in the shipwreck survey business for a very long time,” Hahn said. “And we can tell you that we are profoundly impressed by the Coast Guard’s ability to adapt to this new challenge and apply what they’ve learned throughout this project.”

CANBERRA — Three crewmembers of a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) MH-60R Seahawk helicopter are safe after ditching their helicopter in the Philippine Sea during a routine flight overnight, the Australian Department of Defence said in an Oct. 14 release. 

The aircraft was operating from HMAS Brisbane as part of a regional presence deployment with HMAS Warramunga, when the crew conducted an emergency landing in the water. 

HMAS Brisbane deployed sea boats and rescued the crew approximately 20 minutes later. The crew received first aid for minor injuries upon their return to HMAS Brisbane. 

Commander of the Australian Fleet, Rear Adm. Mark Hammond, commended the crews of both ships involved for their quick response to the emergency. 

“The successful rescue is credit to the devotion to duty and skill of the officers and sailors of HMAS Brisbane,” Hammond said. “Their immediate actions ensured the survival of the aircrew, validating the significant training undertaken in the event an emergency of this nature occurs.” 

Both ships continue to search the area for any debris, which will aid in determining the cause of the incident. 

“With the aircrew safe, investigating the circumstances that led to the helicopter ditching is the priority at the moment,” Hammond said. “As a precaution, we have temporarily paused flying operations of the MH-60R Seahawk fleet.” 

The Department of Defence is reviewing the impact of the incident on Brisbane’s and Warramunga’s current deployment. Australia is planning on procuring 12 MH-60Rs to supplement the 24 already procured and delivered by 2016.