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Coast Guard
Purchases 2 More Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Airplanes By Cmdr. Chris O'Neil |
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April 7, 2012 - The U.S. Coast Guard exercised a $78.54
million contract option Wednesday to purchase the
service’s 16th and 17th HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime
patrol airplane from EADS North America.
Even before the Coast Guard formally accepted the first
Mission Systems Pallet, which provides enhanced sensors
and communications equipment, for the Ocean Sentries in
March 2008, the HC-144 was already proving its value and
capability.
The airplane conducted its first search and rescue mission in February 2008, when the aircraft and crew oversaw search efforts following the collision of two U.S. Air Force F-15C fighter jets over the Gulf of Mexico. |
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Although
still undergoing integration and operational testing at the
time, the Ocean Sentry’s mission system collected Automatic
Identification System data, which in turn helped identify and
communicate with civilian vessels in the area of the crash,
including a good Samaritan vessel that was vectored to help
locate the downed airmen.
The Ocean
Sentry’s 10-hour, long-range capability, its ability to fly at
lower speeds than its HU-25 Falcon jet predecessor and its
passenger capacity proved key as the plane was selected by the
8th Coast Guard District commander to respond to flooding in the
Midwest in the summer of 2008.
The Ocean Sentry conducted flights over flooded areas,
helping Coast Guard leaders determine where to deploy rescue and
recovery resources and to provide the maritime industry
information about the flood’s impact on the maritime
transportation system.
The Ocean
Sentry’s sensor array and C4ISR (command, control,
communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance) capabilities provided real-time situational
awareness of conditions in Haiti following the 7.0 magnitude
earthquake that devastated the island-nation in January 2010.
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