Watch: World’s First Offshore Unmanned Cargo Flight

Watch: World’s First Offshore Unmanned Cargo Flight

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A world’s first full-scale cargo delivery capability offshore has been demonstrated by an unmanned aerial vehicle. The Camcopter S-100 successfully completed a flight from shore to an active oil and gas installation. 

The unmanned delivery distance was 100 km (55 nm).  

Schiebel, together with partner Nordic Unmanned, successfully demonstrated the flight to Norwegian energy company Equinor.

The exercise simulated the scenario of an urgent requirement for specific essential spare parts at the gas production platform Troll A. The UAV successfully carried out the long-range delivery flight from Mongstad, where the spare parts were 3D-printed, to the offshore platform Troll A located in the North Sea. After the UAV supplied the spare parts, it carried out a close inspection around the platform before it headed back to Mongstad.

The flight trials also included a successful Search and Rescue (SAR) mission, where a “man over board” dummy was quickly located by the UAV, transmitting the positioning data and live images using the L3 Harris Wescam real-time Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera and an Automatic Identification System (AIS).