The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has ordered a pair of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned air vehicles.
The two new aircraft will arrive in 2025, says GA-ASI. The JCG is familiar with the aircraft, as it has had a contractor-operated agreement for two examples since April 2022.
“Since JCG started operating SeaGuardians, they have been used for various JCG missions including supporting search and rescue and disaster response, specifically during the 7.6-magnitude earthquake early this year near the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture and maritime surveillance during the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, and the system has performed efficiently and effectively,” says GA-ASI chief executive Linden Blue.
In addition to search and rescue missions, the aircraft are tasked with observing shipping traffic around Japan.
The JCG’s adoption of the SeaGuardian followed previous demonstrations and trials of the aircraft. In 2020, GA-ASI dispatched an aircraft to Japan to demonstrate its maritime surveillance capabilities, and there was another trial in 2018.
The SeaGuardian incorporates a range of sensors, including a surface-search radar with an inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging mode, an automatic identification system receiver allowing it to identify ships, and a high-definition, full-motion video sensor with optical and infrared cameras.
In addition, GA-ASI says that Japan is using Optix+, a software program designed to use intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data from the MQ-9B to create a common operational picture.
