Hood River, OR, January 08, 2014 -- UK’s Royal Navy recently acquired and has now deployed Hood Tech Vision’s imagers to track Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

From: Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., Hood River, Oregon
Date: January 7, 2014
Subject: UK’s Royal Navy Employs Hood Tech Vision’s Imagers in First Maritime Deployment of UAV in an “Operational Theatre”
Contact: Dr. Andy von Flotow, Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., 541-387-2288, [email protected]

According to a recent online article (http://www.suasnews.com/2013/12/26565/first-ever-royal-navy-drone-launched-in-30million-mission-to-stop-somali-pirates/?utm_source=sUAS+News+Daily&utm_campaign=174b3720e5RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b3c0776dde-174b3720e5-303664173), Hood Tech Vision’s imager is deployed on the UK’s “Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cardigan Bay”. The imager flies on a popular small UAV and becomes the Royal Navy’s first instance of maritime UAV use “…in an operational theatre...” The purpose is to help interdict “Somali pirates…threatening shipping in the Indian Ocean”. The imager is an “eye in the sky over the horizon”.

This is not the first time that Hood Tech Vision’s imagers have played a role in combating pirates. The most famous earlier use was from the USS Bainbridge during the stand-off following the abduction of Captain Phillips of the Maersk Alabama, the subject of the recent movie “Captain Phillips”.

The imagers on two aircraft will likely operate “up to 300 hours a month”. They will “spot pirates threatening shipping in the Indian Ocean.”

“The small UAV cannot be armed, so that our imager is the reason for putting the aircraft in action, and it provides the information necessary to keep forces safe,” said a Hood Tech Vision representative. “We expect all our imagers to work every time for that purpose.”
When Hood Tech began producing 800-gm video-camera turrets in 1998, it enabled an entirely new class of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Hood Technology Vision now designs and manufactures imaging and video processing systems at the highest level of the National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS): level 9. Hood Tech matches improved stabilization technology with electro-optical lenses that zoom up to 170 times. This results in a field of view of 0.3 degrees, in a package that weighs less than six kg. Designed for manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), boats, land vehicles, and stationary mounts, the reliability and utility of Hood Tech’s daylight and thermal imaging products has been demonstrated over more than 750,000 hours of use in a variety of temperatures, humidity, dust, smoke, haze, and other environmental factors (http://www.hoodtechvision.com).

Dr. Andy von Flotow founded Hood Technology in Hood River, Oregon in 1992. Along with the design and manufacture of stabilized imaging systems, Hood Tech:

Develops, tests, and manufactures launch and retrieval systems for UAVs
Operates controlled launch and quiet wind tunnel test facilities
Monitors blade vibrations in industrial turbines and jet engines, including diagnostic methods that predict possible future failures.

The Hood Tech web site is: www.hoodtech.com

Contact:
Andy von Flotow
Hood Tech
3100 Cascade
Hood River, OR 97031
541-387-2288
[email protected]
http://www.hoodtech.com