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You are at :Home»News»Eighth HC-144B Ocean Sentry Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Delivered to USCG
Eighth HC-144B Ocean Sentry Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Delivered to USCG
The Coast Guard has accepted delivery of its eighth HC-144B Ocean Sentry outfitted with both Ocean Sentry Refresh modifications and the Minotaur mission system. The HC-144's state-of-the-art sensors and avionics, fuel consumption rate, and short field takeoff and landing capability make it uniquely suited for Coast Guard missions. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Wyrick.

Eighth HC-144B Ocean Sentry Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Delivered to USCG

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) accepted delivery of its eighth HC-144B Ocean Sentry medium range surveillance aircraft outfitted with both the Ocean Sentry Refresh (OSR) modifications and the Minotaur mission system in late August.

Xavier Vavasseur 23 Sep 2020

The modifications were completed at the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The OSR project upgrades the aircraft with a new flight management system, which manages communication control, navigation and equipment monitoring. After the OSR upgrade is completed, each aircraft is redesignated as an HC-144B.

Minotaur integrates installed sensors and radar and provides dramatically improved data fusion as well as information processing and sharing capabilities.

Completion of missionization and upgrade of a ninth HC-144 is scheduled by the end of November. The service plans to upgrade each of the service’s 18 HC-144s by 2022.

About HC-144 Ocean Sentry

USCG picture

Based on the CASA/IPTN CN-235 transport aircraft, the HC-144 Ocean Sentry has an endurance of more than 10 hours and an extensive sensor capability that helps the Coast Guard fulfill its maritime patrol, drug and migrant interdiction, disaster response, and search and rescue missions more effectively.

The Ocean Sentry is particularly effective at locating objects in large search areas and vectoring other military, government and first responders to these locations. The aircraft has the capability to perform aerial delivery of search and rescue equipment, such as rafts, pumps and flares. Also, with its sophisticated command and control system, it can serve as a platform for an on-scene commander during homeland security missions.

The Ocean Sentry also features a rear ramp that allows crews to quickly reconfigure the aircraft for varied operations, including command and control, medical evacuation or passenger transport.

About Ocean Sentry Refresh project and Minotaur mission system

Minotaur workstations, like the one shown above on the HC-130J, offer improved integration and presentation of video, flight data and other sensor information.

The Coast Guard is upgrading its HC-144A fleet to improve mission effectiveness and situational awareness through the Ocean Sentry Refresh project. Each aircraft will receive a new cockpit control and display unit, used in flight management as the primary avionics computer for communication control, navigation and equipment monitoring. Upon completion, each aircraft is redesignated as an HC-144B.

The service is also integrating the Navy’s Minotaur mission system architecture across its fixed-wing aircraft fleet. The Minotaur integration process for the prototype HC-144B began at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, in July 2016.

Minotaur incorporates sensors; radar; and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and enables aircrews to gather and process surveillance information that can be transmitted to other platforms and units during flight. The system was originally developed by the U.S. Navy and is used across multiple Defense and Homeland Security department platforms.

HC-144B Maritime Surveillance Aircraft United States USCG 2020-09-23
Xavier Vavasseur
Tags HC-144B Maritime Surveillance Aircraft United States USCG
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Authors

Posted by : Xavier Vavasseur
Xavier is based in Paris, France. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Xavier has been covering naval defense topics for nearly a decade.

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