Taiwan's Navy first fly-over demonstration using the Albatross UAV.

Taiwan's Navy has held its first fly-over demonstration using the indigenous Albatross UAV. This test was part of a joint military operation taking place near Pingtung.

Flight testing of the Albatross UAV (Picture source : NCSIST)

This Taiwanese remote controlled UAV is developed by National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) took part in a joint military operation. This operation was to simulate a scenario during which DDG-1802, a guided-missile destroyer, and FFG-1205, a frigate, were offshore to protect Taiwan from a ballistic missile. During this simulation, the Albatross made its first public takeoff, landing and fly-over, dispatched to gather aerial intelligence for both ships to operate easier and safer.

Albatross UAVs, reaching maximum flight times of 12 hours and a flight range of 180 km, are indeed used for daytime and nighttime surveillance and reconnaissance, target acquisition and designation, etc... That may explain how important it is for the Navy to constantly improve this system.

Accurate and timely intelligence is actually essential to enable ships reach an effective command an control. This real time information is also used to improve the efficiency of the combined operations, thanks to the C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems.