MQ-9B Sea Guardian for Japan Coast Guard

On 19 October 2022, a General Atomics MQ-9B Sea Guardian was delivered to Hachinohe, to be operated for the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). The aircraft with registration N467SG and JCG code RA467, was in full JCG colours and markings, however we believe the aircraft is still owned by General Atomics and exclusively operates for the JCG’s RPAS project.

Demonstration flights in October 2020 from Hachinohe, where General Atomics demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of the Sea Guardian as an aerial surveillance method, resulted in its selection to support the JCG’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) project.

The MQ-9B Sea Guardian will be used to conduct wide-area maritime surveillance to support JCG’s missions, which include search and rescue, disaster response, and maritime law enforcement.

The Sea Guardian features a multi-mode maritime surface-search radar with an Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging mode, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver, and High-Definition – Full-Motion Video sensor equipped with optical and infrared cameras. This sensor suite enables real-time detection and identification of surface vessels over thousands of square nautical miles and provides automatic tracking of maritime targets and correlation of AIS transmitters with radar tracks.

Photo by Tatezou (twitter @tatezou)