Search and Rescue (SAR) in the Florida Everglades provides a unique challenge due to the remote location and operations can often only be attempted by boat or aircraft. A suitable replacement for manned aircraft in these search and rescue operations could be a quad rotor unmanned aerial system (UAS).
Manned aircraft, whether fixed wing or helicopters, are expensive to fly and maintain. A fleet of small quad rotor UAS equipped with a SAR specific sensor loadout, could be carried on boats and deployed on location to provide support (“S9 SAR”, n.d.) The SAR equipped UAS could be used to search locations that might be hazardous to boats or just cover a particular area without having to call in air support (McFarland, 2015). Once the victims are located the UAS could also be used actively in the rescue. Victims are not always able to communicate and often times could be hurt. The UAS could be used to pass radios, rescue equipment, or medical supplies to the survivors (Charns & Reagan, 2015).
Hurricane Monitoring
Fixed wing aircraft started flying hurricane monitoring mission in 1944 and have been an essential part in helping to make accurate forecasts of storms (Williams, 2014). Fixed wing UAS are a great replacement for manned aircraft for hurricane monitoring missions. Hurricane monitoring is a dangerous job and has led to the loss of 6 aircraft and 53 crewmembers, which has limited and even stopped flights into certain types of storms (Williams, 2014). A fixed wing UAS would be able to fly into storms without placing crew members into danger. NASA has already started using a Global Hawk UAS to fly over storms using sensors and dropping instruments into the storm to gather data (Jenner, 2014). NOAA has also used a fixed wing UAS to gather data on storms. The Coyote UAS was launched from a P-3 Hurricane Hunter and flew directly into a storm, gathering data and allowing the P-3 to stay a safe distance from the storm (“NOAA Launches Coyote”, 2014) Monitoring of illegal narcotics trade in the Caribbean Drug smugglers use various methods to transport drugs into the United States including routes by air, land, and sea. The United States Navy and Coast Guard use ships and aircraft to track and locate these vessels, which could be accomplished by an unmanned maritime system (UMS). Recently, smugglers have turned to submersible and semi-submersible vehicles to transport their illicit cargo and evade detection (Keefe, 2012). …show more content…
An UMS similar to DARPA’s ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) could be used to detect and track these submersibles for long periods of time and handoff their locations to drug enforcement officials (Ackerman, 2012). Time and money could be saved by allowing the UMS to patrol designated areas and pass the data to a manned vessel, freeing up assets for more important tasks. While the ACTUV itself may be overkill for such a task, a similar vessel with sensors designed specifically for detecting the small submersibles and speed boats used for drug smuggling could help shutting down the Caribbean as a means for transporting drugs. Southern U.S. border security The United States Border Patrol uses a fleet of aircraft to help monitor the United States – Mexico border, which could be replaced or augmented with a fleet of fixed wing UAS. The aircraft