Indonesian Navy uses UAV to assess ships’ magnetic signature

The Indonesian Navy has recently deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with an aerial magnetic range to determine a ship’s magnetic signature.

According to UAV manufacturer ECA Group, this is the first time a navy has used a drone to assess a vessel’s vulnerability to underwater mines and other threats.

The French company’s STERNA UAV was deployed by the Indonesian Navy in July 2018. STERNA is based on the IT180 mini-UAV VTOL, embedding a magnetometer and its digitizer. This system is a part of set-up degaussing systems in compliance with NATO standards.

As explained by the company, the UAV allows for signature measurements to be completed in less than one hour in operational conditions, while traditional methods require an immobilization of the vessel during several days.

“Using the latest technology certainly has an impact on effectiveness and efficiency without reducing the purpose and the objective of the test, so using STERNA will be much faster than the old method and will provide us with more accurate results,” says Colonel Anis Kelaikan, MOD inspector for HAT and SAT.

At least one UAV run is needed to measure a submarine in MAD type measurement (magnetic anomaly detection) and at least three runs to check a vessel’s magnetic signature (with or without degaussing system).