While the Guam National Guard is a military unit, its air unit is tasked with SAR and Border Protection missions. Photo: GUNG
The Guam National Guard has taken delivery of an advanced SAR-optimised UH-72A Lakota. The aircraft boasts an upgraded electro-optical sensor with infrared laser-pointed capabilities and a 30 million candle-power searchlight, which will enhance its SAR capability.
Captain Napu Castro, the commander of the Guam Guard Aviation Detachment, said, “Greatest capability – the advantage is that 30-million candle power – it will provide search at night. The sensors upfront are the infrared – we’re able to distinguish heat signatures in a cold background. So, especially out here in Guam, you have the open sea. If we’re able to see a body or a person out at sea, if they give a heat signature, we can pinpoint that.”
The aircraft will also be tasked with supporting the unit’s border patrol mission: “Here on Guam we also have a border. It may not be clearly defined, but we’re surrounded by ocean – and as you’ve seen in the news, we also have undocumented or illegal immigrants making their way to our shores. So, the same capabilities that allow us to do better search and rescue are the same capabilities that are going to allow us to assist with that border patrol mission, which is our Army National Guard mission,” explained Guam Guard PAO Mark Scott.
