The upsurge in piracy in recent years has placed new demands on maritime patrol units, requiring them to search for extremely small but agile targets in deep water and to co-ordinate rapid action against them. Aircraft in this role must have excellent range and endurance characteristics to monitor oceanic waters and the sensors to detect small boats by day or night. They need the manoeuvrability to pursue their targets at low level and communications suites allied to a powerful mission system to co-ordinate other assets.



Airbus Military’s surveillance aircraft family is already proven in this mission. The CN235 and C295 both have an endurance of up to 11 hours, excellent low-level flying characteristics with up to 3g manoeuvrability and a cruise speed optimised for persistent surveillance and oceanic coverage. They benefit from bubble windows to observe and photograph boats, and safe low-speed flying characteristics. Both can be fitted with a wide range of day/night sensors including radar and infrared, plus the Airbus Military-developed on-board Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS), which enables crews to make optimal use of the information gathered by sensors to ensure maximum effectiveness of the aircraft.

In future the new A400M will transform how these missions are performed, flying at up to 300kt with an endurance of more than 12 hours and range out to 3,000nm (5,500km). It can patrol the vast offshore areas where pirates hide, and support surface assets or deliver special forces where needed.