Air Vehicles for Coastal Surveillance to Protect the Natural Resources and Monitor Illegal Entry into the EEZ: An Overview of Challenges and Reliability Concerns in the Context of Maldives
Coastal surveillance systems are vitally important for monitoring threats, providing security and controlling the EEZ. It can help in detection and controlling of illegal and unreported entry into the EEZ for fishing violations, drug smuggling and human trafficking etc. Especially for country’s like Maldives coastal surveillance are important to conserve the ocean resources and ensure regional security. This research is about a feasibility study conducted for developing a high altitude and long endurance airship to monitor and control the EEZ of the Republic of Maldives. The environmental and technical constraints to develop an air vehicle for Maldivian coastal area were studied including wind profile and the configurations of different air vehicles suitable for the proposed application.