21 September 2022
by Oishee Majumdar
The Philippine Navy conducted a “send-off ceremony” of the ScanEagle2 UAS acquired in 2020 from the US to mark the first deployment of its Maritime Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron 71 (MUARS71), which will be operating the system. (Philippine Navy)
The Philippine Navy (PN) marked the first deployment of its Maritime Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron 71 (MUARS71) by organising a “send-off ceremony” of the ScanEagle2 unmanned aerial system (UAS) acquired from the United States for the squadron in 2020.
The ceremony, highlighting MUARS71’s first deployment after the completion of the squadron’s “one year in-country training”, was conducted by the PN’s Naval Air Wing (NAW) at its headquarters in Naval Base Heracleo Alano, located in Cavite City, PN tweeted on 19 September.
“The ‘Alpha Flight’ of MUARS-71 is composed of five officers and nine maintenance crew,” NAW said.
The MUARS71 will be utilising the ScanEagle2 UAS “to conduct different missions like patrols and surveillance” for the PN, NAW said.