U.S. Coast Guard Evaluates Underwater Imager

The USCG has a number of UIS systems and has worked with CodaOctopus in developing the functionality further. The report which provides an update on their evaluation to date states, in part, that these systems have been deployed in various and varied operations such as the recent helicopter crash near the Alabama shore where the UIS was deployed to aid in the search and recovery of “four bodies” to an operation for recovering 7½ tons of cocaine from a sunken semi-submersible.

Jack McCready, branch chief for the Coast Guard Research and Development Center’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) branch, described a typical operation. For the recovery of the coacaine, a number of possible locations of the vessel were identified by the Coast Guard cutter Oak. As the cutter moved to each of these locations, the UIS was then able to conduct precise imaging. When the system found the sunken vessel, it was able to direct a team of FBI divers exactly to the target. It was reported that the Coast Guard detained the crew and recovered some of the cargo before the boat sank. The cocaine was recovered from the sunken vessel in what Coast Guard officials described as a first-of-its-kind operation.