Schiebel demonstrates Camcopter S-100 together with Boeing in psychological operations role

Schiebel recently conducted, in cooperation with Boeing, a demonstration for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, integrating the Camcopter S-100 and ground unmanned systems for psychological operation missions in-theatre.

A USASOC and Boeing-led team, including also John Deere Company, Trident, Inc. and American Technologies Corporation, assembled a group of unmanned platforms and capabilities to perform a PSYOP demonstration.

The Camcopter S-100 was equipped with an American Technologies Corporation loudspeaker capable of addressing crowds at a distance of up to 2 km, a leaflet drop capability, as well as an IAI POP300 EO/IR camera payload. The John Deere R-Gator Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) was also equipped with a loudspeaker augmented with the Trident, Inc. data link, demonstrating the potential for teaming UGVs with an UAS.

The psychological operation mission at a mock-up city training facility at Ft. Bragg, simulating in-theatre conditions, was aimed at minimizing civilian unrest and preventing civilian casualties while apprehending a suspected terrorist cell. The S-100 was utilized to survey the area and provide real-time aerial intelligence, as well as to address the public and drop information leaflets.

“Working with UASAOC we were able to pull together an integrated team of companies to demonstrate the integration of an Unmanned Airborne System (UAS) and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in just 45 days,” said Vic Sweberg, Director of Boeing Unmanned Airborne Systems. “We brought together hardware and software from five different contractors into a single multimodal system that allowed the control of different unmanned systems capabilities to accomplish a particular mission.”

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with Boeing to demonstrate the S-100’s versatility and mission performance in this potentially life-saving scenario, the protection of the civilian population in theatre being key to counter-insurgency operations,” said Hans Georg Schiebel, Director of Schiebel Industries AG.

Schiebel Industries AG of Austria and the Boeing Company signed a teaming agreement in August of 2009 to pursue marketing and support opportunities for Schiebel's Camcopter S-100 in the United States and certain other markets.