Collaboration Between MILTECH HELLAS, UTEK and LEONARDO in the Project: “UNMANNED EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGIES FOR SECURITY & DEFENCE MARITIME OPERATIONS”
A collaboration between three European companies has conducted to a new solution for maritime operations related to security & defense.
Sea tests of the new integral platform developed by the Spanish company UTEK was performed a few days ago. The new solution is based in an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and was named “KALUGA DS”. The system includes the Remote Weapon Station LIONFISH ULTRA LIGHT 12,7 mm from LEONARDO, produced by his Spanish Subsidiary LEONARDO HISPANIA for national customers and the advanced surveillance equipment MLT-SUR-RTM from the Greek company MILTECH HELLAS.
The boat is a Narwhal 670 RHIB powered by a 150HP Mercury Verado outboard engine. Onboard unmanned capabilities were provided by UTEK as well as the portable Ground Control Station which can be quickly deployed on ground or on a mother ship.
The trial was performed at Spanish Navy premises located in Argameca Naval Station (Murcia) with the valuable aid of this unit in terms of personnel and support equipment and counted also with the collaboration of Spanish Ministry of Defense. A validation of the new Mission Planner and full autonomous navigation developed by UTEK was checked with excellent results.
LEONARDO LIONFISH ULTRA LIGHT 12.7 mm is a reduced weight weapon system that can detect targets above 7 Km thanks to an optronics system with day/night camera and a laser range finder that allows an effective shooting distance up to 2,000 meters. LIONFISH ULTRA LIGHT provides support to all type of maritime operations thanks to an ammunition capability of 250 rounds.
MLT-SUR-RTM (ARGOS Series) is an IP based, ONVIF compatible family of E/O Surveillance Systems, specially designed for marine harsh environments and thus can be installed on vessels (manned or unmanned) providing numerous all-in-one capabilities. The several variants include uncooled & cooled systems. The advanced systems include Gyro-stabilized Pan-Tilt and optional LRF. The systems are modular and fully customizable, according to user requirements.
According to UTEK, the integration of advanced performances equipment increases USV capabilities providing a great potential for security & defense maritime operations related to protection of maritime assets (facilities/ships) or for coverage of the fleet when defensive/offensive capabilities are required. UTEK is a Spanish company specialized in the development of high reliability and advanced performances unmanned systems which got a prominent position in the international scene with agreements and commercial presence in several countries all around the World.
MILTECH’s representative highlighted the importance of unmanned vessels in defense maritime scenarios. Thus, by incorporating remotely controlled imaging technologies (thermal & optical), USV’s capabilities are expanded exponentially. MILTECH HELLAS S.A. is one of the leading Hellenic industries in the defense sector specializing in the design and manufacture of high quality electronic & electro-optical imaging products for defense applications. Miltech’s Thermal Imaging products range covers, among others, land or air-based applications and maritime surveillance.
