DCNS Validates Maritime Surveillance Solution in Piracy-hit Gulf of Guinea

Together with the French Navy, DCNS conducted three demonstrations of its POLARIS mission system and the interoperable NIDL tactical data link solution.

These tests took place in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Guinea, an area in which over one quarter of worldwide acts of piracy are concentrated. off the coasts of  Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Senegal in May and June this year

DCNS conducted three demonstration operations for POLARIS and NIDL in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Senegal. The simulation of a sea-rescue and offender interception scenario under real conditions required the deployment of the POLARIS mission system in a land-based centre as well as on board L’Adroit, an OPV built by DCNS and loaned to the French navy.

The representatives of the Cameroonian, Ivory Coast and Senegalese Navies each provided their support to the real-time deployment of data-transmission capacities between the land-based operations centre and the OPV deployed at sea.

Xavier Mesnet, Marketing and Development Director at DCNS, stated: “Faced with an increase in criminal (piracy, drugs trafficking) and illicit (illegal fishing, illegal immigration, pollution) activities, the Group is developing open-architecture and modular maritime surveillance and intervention solutions to provide a response to the sovereignty needs of States, including within the context of coalition operations.”

POLARIS  is an on-board mission system covering all surveillance needs for the aero-maritime-space by making use of a wide variety of sensors and the automatic detection and analysis of suspicious behaviours. DCNS integrates the NIDL tactical data link module within this naval system, allowing States, including non-NATO members, to take advantage of an interoperable intelligence-gathering system, facilitating the exchange of files and data concerning tactical situations.