Insitu Wins $117 Million to Provide ScanEagle Drones to US Coast Guard Fleet

Insitu has won a $117 million contract to provide small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) ISR services aboard the entire US Coast Guard National Security Cutter fleet.

The service contract covers the installation and deployment of sUAS for 200 hours per 30-day operational patrol period. ScanEagle will conduct surveillance, detection, classification and identification operations. It will also support prosecution by providing real-time imagery, data, target illumination, communications relay and other capabilities to the fleet and other government platforms as needed, the company said in a statement Monday.

In 2016, Insitu won the contract to provide sUAS ISR services aboard one National Security Cutter, the USCGC STRATTON. By January 2018, ScanEagle had directly assisted the ship’s crews in seizing more than $1.5 billion of cocaine and heroin, contributing to the USCG’s year for drug busts in 2017.

The U.S. Coast Guard began infrastructure installation in April 2018, with plans to begin installing hardware on Coast Guard Cutters James in fall 2018, Munro in late winter 2019 and Bertholf in late spring or early summer 2019.