The Japan Coast Guard began operating a GA-ASI MQ-9B SeaGuardian from 2022 as part of a Company-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) agreement with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI)
The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has ordered two General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), with the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to be delivered in 2025, according to the company.
The order comes two years after the JCG acquired one SeaGuardian from April 2022 as part of a Company-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) agreement with GA-ASI, the company said in a release on 15 August.
Under the COCO agreement, the MQ-9B began flight operations in October 2022 from Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Hachinohe Air Base. The UAV's mandate was to conduct Maritime Wide Area Search (MWAS) over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Pacific Ocean.
According to GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue, the JCG has used the MQ-9B for various mission roles. This includes “supporting search and rescue and disaster response specifically during the 7.6 magnitude earthquake early this year near the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture and maritime surveillance during the 2023 G7 summit in Hiroshima”, Blue said.
In February Japan's Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara said the JMSDF also began testing the JCG's MQ-9B from May 2023 from Hachinohe Air Base.
From April to June 2024 the MQ-9B also briefly operated from Kanoya Air Base, according to Kihara, who added that additional operations from Kanoya were also planned between July and September.
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