Diamond Aircraft Industries, known for the most efficient airplanes in the industry and state-of-the-art remote sensing solutions, puts another Diamond in the sky: the DA42 MPP PANDION, an all in one solution for coastal surveillance.

The fully in-house designed DA42 MPP PANDION comprises a lightweight search radar, an electro-optical and infrared gyro stabilized gimbal camera and a commercial satellite communication system. All components are no ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) ensuring fast worldwide delivery on short notice.

Markus Fischer, Sales Director Special Mission Aircraft, Diamond Aircraft Industries Austria: „The concept of the Pandion is to provide a full maritime airborne solution to a fixed price against illegal fishery and anti-piracy. Equipped with an EO/IR turret, a Beyond-Line-Of-Sight Satcom and a mission management system the DA42MPP is capable operate easily up to 6 hours and 150NM out of the shoreline. Included in the package price is the compact ground station where decision makers receives a full situational overview (live video feed, telemetry data and voice communication) of the situation at sea. The argument airborne surveillance against illegal activities like, piracy, drug smuggling, illegal fishing or environmental pollution is no longer acceptable – it is an excuse to all who do not want to change those circumstances in their countries.”

Diamond Aircraft internally modified both the maritime radar, called NEPTUN, and the BLOS SATCOM (Beyond Line of Sight Satellite Communication), called KOPERNIKUS. The architecture was kept simple and very user friendly to guarantee stable and reliable operation throughout the mission.

Alexander Hauthaler, Technical Director Special Mission Aircraft, Diamond Aircraft Industries Austria: “We have successfully tested Neptun and Kopernikus over the Mediterranean Sea for about 200 hours. Results showed that with implemented AIS and nautical charts together with the radar and camera data it is possible to create a real situation map about current events on the sea.”

Mathias Hutterer, Head of Airborne Sensing Division at Diamond Aircraft Industries Austria: "Our test flights showed that the in-house developed, drop-shaped Neptun radome is perfectly designed for smooth flight operations. The whole PANDION configuration is an extremely efficient tool for sea and coastal surveillance.”

NEPTUN, mounted on the aircraft's belly, is equipped with an AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver. It delivers situational overview of the actual ship traffic within a maximum range of 36 nm (66 km). The system offers an additional benefit for the aircraft crew: nautical charts can be uploaded to enable an overlay with the real time processed radar data. The underfloor radom was redesigned, offering best aerodynamic performance to minimize the DA42 MPP's drag characteristics.

The satellite communication system KOPERNIKUS enables permanent connection with decision makers and crew on ground. It is available for INMARSAT and THURAYA networks and allows working online, emailing, using VoIP, transmitting snapshots from the radar, or streaming live video from the camera.

Diamond Aircraft Industries offers the maritime patrol system as a turnkey solution, enhanced with ground station and training if requested.