Schiebel Group has founded Schiebel Pacific to provide the Pacific region with a permanent program, logistics, and sales hub.
Schiebel, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) manufacturer, said it sees “considerable further potential in Australia and in the region at large, and as such is committed to developing a lasting and mutually beneficial presence.”
Schiebel chose the Shoalhaven because of the region’s location between Canberra and Sydney, positioning the company to support and service existing contracts as well as to aim for continued growth.
“Establishing a permanent base in Australia, managed and run by Australians, is a logical next step for Schiebel as the Pacific region is of significant strategic interest to us,” Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, said.
“We already have a strong working relationship with customers in the area and are committed to growing our footprint, delivering outstanding support for our current contracts, providing end-to-end servicing to potential clients, and backing local value creation.”
The RAN has bought Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 system as part of explorations of small shipborne UAS.
Under Navy Minor Project 1942, RAN sought to procure an interim vertical take-off and landing maritime UAS for shipborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Schiebel’s heavy-fuel variant Camcopter S-100 UAS successfully completed its flying program for RAN's validation and verification customer acceptance program at the Jervis Bay airfield in March.