Japan picks GA-ASI’s SeaGuardians for its UAV program

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) has selected the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems for its Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program.

SeaGuardian has been used by JMSDF to conduct various tests including whether unmanned aircraft can supplant some of the missions currently accomplished with manned aircraft. The aircraft is a MALE RPA system that can fly for 24 hours or more, depending on the configuration.

SeaGuardian features two multi-mode maritime surface-search radars with an inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging mode, an automatic identification system (AIS) receiver, and a high-definition – full-motion video sensor equipped with optical and infrared cameras as well as electronic intelligence receivers.

This sensor suite enables real-time detection and identification of surface vessels over thousands of square nautical miles and provides automatic tracking of maritime targets and correlation of AIS transmitters with radar and electronic intelligence tracks, according to GA-ASI.

GA-ASI has strengthened its maritime wide area surveillance (MWAS) for Japan with Optix+, which gathers information from the SeaGuardian sensors, as well as other data sources, displaying the full picture of surveillance information for its operator.

This functionality makes it easy to task and direct its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) information in real time, the firm noted.

To remind, in August this year, GA-ASI was also contracted to provide two SeaGuardians for Japan.