Funded by the U.S. government under the Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) program, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia received 12 + 6 of the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle UAV. These long-endurance, low-altitude UAVs are operated by the Navy's 601 Squadron in the east of Malaysia. We were lucky to have a close-up look at the ScanEagle and her ground control station displayed at the recent LIMA'23 maritime exhibition. The UAV is bigger than the previous version operated by the Navy, designed to be assembled on the fly and visual from the UAV camera shown in the ground station is of good quality too.

With the number of UAVs operated by the Navy and over 12 hours of endurance each unit of the ScanEagle has, these eyes in the sky greatly expand the watch area of our maritime front.