The United States Embassy of Kuala Lumpur has recently revealed that a shipment of six Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) called ScanEagle have arrived in Malaysia. These UAVs are said to be the first batch of shipment for the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM).
Fully funded by the U.S, the UAVs are being provided under a program called Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative which is meant to improve the maritime domain awareness in this region. Originally scheduled to arrive in November last year, twelve units of ScanEagle have been reserved for Malaysia through this program.
BREAKING: Overnight, our partners w/ @tldm_rasmi took receipt of the first batch of six @Insitu_Inc, #AmericanMade Scan Eagle Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) which will enhance the Royal Malaysian Navy's ability to defend the country's territorial integrity.
cc: @MINDEFMalaysia pic.twitter.com/YHt798dXIR
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— U.S. Embassy KL (@usembassykl) May 7, 2020
Made by Insitu which is a subsidiary of Boeing, ScanEagle is generally designed for reconnaissance. With a ceiling flying limit of 5,944 meter and cruise speed of around to to 60 knots, the UAV is apparently able to fly for more than 20 hours.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the UAV will be mainly used by Malaysia for maritime surveillance. The addition of ScanEagle UAVs into TLDM’s array of resources is yet interesting proof that our security forces are really warming up to the idea of unmanned aircrafts, just like PDRM and its drone unit.
