Apart from an MH-60R helicopter, HMAS Ballarat also carries an S-100 Schiebel Camcopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle that offers enhanced surveillance capability at sea.
A small detachment from 822X Squadron at the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm is conducting trials with the 3.1-m long rotorcraft as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre (TS21).
Remote Pilot Warfare Officer Lieutenant Jack Parsey said the S-100 provided Ballarat’s command team with a highly flexible intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability in real-time.
“The S-100 can be used for a number of activities, such as search and rescue, tactical maritime operations, and overwatch for the ship’s boarding party,” Lieutenant Parsey said.
“A major advantage of the S-100 is that the vision it captures can be live-fed straight back to the operations room providing a real-time tactical picture.”
Attention is also being paid to how the S-100 can operate in conjunction with the MH-60R to multiply overall aerial capability. MORE
