Since leaving the Royal Navy in 2006 after a 23-year career, Neil Hunter worked with Thales Aerospace in the UK, responsible for leading on all worldwide future UAS opportunities for nearly 2 years before joining Schiebel in Austria in September 2008.
His last appointment in uniform took him into procurement for the first time where he was responsible for all UK tactical and operational level UAS with the main focus of his work being in bringing Watchkeeper into service.
The Schiebel Camcopter S-100 that we now know is the result of 15 years of development. A key milestone was the signing of a teaming agreement with Boeing in the USA in 2009. To date, some 138 units have been built of which 108 have been delivered to customers around the world. The new production facility in Austria now has a capacity of manufacturing some 120 units per year.
The Camcopter is a 200 kg VTOL system with proven capabilities in both the land and maritime domains. It has users around the world from Military, Police and Other Government Departments and is seeing a growing interest from the Civilian market where its robust and dependable abilities see it monitoring electrical power lines, pipe lines, oil rigs and harbours.
By offering a spectrum of new technology in its sensor / payload suite to customers, the Camcopter S-100 UAS s utility continues to grow, providing a hugely flexible capability from what is, a uniquely capable platform.
The presentation highlighted some of the recent advancements and ongoing developments that serve to make the Camcopter S-100 UAS such a widely appealing package. In particular it highlighted Civilian applications and opportunities: Electrical Power line surveillance; Pipeline surveillance; Agricultural surveillance; Disaster and humanitarian support; Maritime developments: Lightweight maritime radars; Anti-piracy operations; Harbour security.
I have met Mr Neil Hunter when he visited pakistan as sales representive of Schiebel Camcopter S-100. I found him a professional and dedicated man. I wish to work with him if I get opportunity.Now about the Camcopter, I have attended practical demonstration of VTOL UAS, and found it accurate and reliable system.