#1686 S-100 Coastguard print
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1686 - G-USAD, Shiebel S-100, UKSAR UAS Unit, Lydd Airport.
Bristow Helicopters Ltd has a long history of providing civilian helicopter Search and Rescue, beginning in 1971 when operating Sikorsky S55s at RAF Manston, Kent. Bristow Helicopters Limited was awarded the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) contract to deliver Search and Rescue - Helicopter (SAR-H) services to Her Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG) and began operations in 2015 from ten strategic locations around the United Kingdom. In 2019 Bristow Helicopters Ltd commissioned the Unmanned Aircraft System Prototype Service (UAS PS) and began an extensive trial of the Scheibel S-100 Camcopter from Caernarfon Airport in North Wales. Successful HMCG ‘Safety Overwatch’ operations in North Wales resulted in a relocation to Kent in November 2021 with the launch of the United Kingdom’s first operational SAR UAS Unit at Lydd Airport on the 1st March 2022. Complimenting current SAR(H) capability, ‘Coastguard50Unmanned’ provides essential maritime patrol operations and real time situation awareness over the English Channel with its sensor suite and live video downlink capabilities.