Aurora's Skate poised for SWAT team operations

3rd October 2012 - 16:06 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Aurora Flight Sciences has announced that it has recently signed an agreement with the Boston area Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (MetroLEC) to establish a programme to evaluate Aurora’s Skate Small Unmanned Aerial System (SUAS) by their Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations.

The programme will allow MetroLEC to evaluate the utility of SUAS in a law enforcement environment. Aurora will provide the Skate SUAS system for the evaluations, and will also provide MetroLEC with operator training and planning and support for SWAT operations.

According to the company, the Skate SUAS is tailored for use in urban or crowded environments. Designed to be lightweight, easily portable, deliver long endurance on quiet electric power, and provide autonomous operation, the ISR platform is ‘ideal for budget conscious military, law enforcement, and commercial operators.’

MetroLEC is a consortium of 43+ local area police departments and law enforcement agencies. These agencies work together to provide unique and highly specialised law enforcement resources to its member communities. MetroLEC is currently in the process of obtaining a Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and following a thorough operator training programme, will begin the operational evaluation of Skate SUAS during training and live SWAT exercises.

Carl Schaefer, Aurora’s director of small UAS programmes, said: ‘MetroLEC SWAT is an extremely forward thinking and innovative agency that has great ideas on UAS applications in law enforcement. We are excited for this opportunity to work with them to evaluate the capabilities of Skate to support law enforcement.’

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