Selex Falco saves lives in DRC as UN mulls UAVs for Mali

Meanwhile the use of unmanned systems have been given a boost when a Falco Remotely Piloted Aerial System (RPAS) operated by Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company, picked up images of people in danger after a boat capsized in Lake Kivu near Goma in the Democrating Republic of Congo (DRC). Thanks to the alert, UN peacekeepers were able to intervene and
14 people were rescued.
At least one person died and a dozen others are still missing from the incident which happened on May 5.
Selex said today that the rescue proved that RPAS – or drones - can be effectively used to identify refugees who encounter trouble during sea voyages and alert rescue forces. The surveillance that led to this particular rescue was carried out as part of the United Nation’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.
Selex ES was awarded the multi-year service agreement by the UN last July and has since had the Falco flying humanitarian and security information gathering missions in the region.
Potential future uses for the Falco system include expanding the MONUSCO surveillance mission and to help monitor the ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic in support of the UN’s MINUSCA mission.
The FALCO is an unarmed, medium-altitude, medium-endurance RPAS able to operate from semi-prepared airstrips. The platform was selected by the UN because of its ability to perform long-endurance surveillance missions, its outstanding reliability, ease of deployment and excellent track record in service operations. The aircraft has a range of 250km (155 miles) which can be extended via optional upgrades.