Richard Hackwell said that there had been a great opportunity to engage with many partner organisations, stakeholders, suppliers, the public and also coastguard staff and volunteers.
Visitors to the event, held at the NEC in Birmingham earlier this week, were spoilt for choice of coastguard exhibits, with two display areas in the exhibition hall.
They were joined by stakeholders from across United Kingdom Search and Rescue (UKSAR) including Mountain Rescue, Lowland Rescue, Cave Rescue, National Independent Lifeboat Association, RNLI and HM Coastguard’s helicopter operator, Bristow.
Coastguards were also represented by the Coastguard Association on their stand and by a historic coastguard vehicle on the National Emergency Services Museum’s display.
HM Coastguard demonstrated potential future technology the service may employ to support search and rescue operations.
Coastguard Area Commander Mike Buratti also joined a panel to discuss the work of emergency services during Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool, and the role HM Coastguard played in the protection of hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s waterfront.
Richard Hackwell said that visitors were enthusiastic about hearing about the work of HM Coastguard and learning more about the technical aspects of our work.
On display was HM Coastguards first-ever fully electric response vehicle, due to become operational shortly. The vehicle will be utilised as a Coastguard Operations Response Vehicle (CORV), which are used by our full-time officers, in support of our Rescue Teams. It will be used across the UK as part of its evaluation to ensure the vehicle can fulfil day to day operational needs.
Assistant Chief Coastguard Richard Hackwell said: “HM Coastguard is committed to developing its fleet of emergency vehicles to be more sustainable. It is essential we embrace new technology and the lessons we will learn from operating this electric response vehicle will inform future developments.’
Sharing the display with the electric vehicle were ‘on scene’ drones which are part of an ongoing trial to assess the suitability of drones controlled at the scene of an incident, by the Coastguard Rescue teams, to support search and rescue operations. Visitors could also see a new ground based satellite receiver which can provide remote connectivity, by creating a WiFi network and then used in support of SAR operations and provide operational resilience.
Also on display was ‘Coastguard 50’ HM Coastguard’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) which is a Schiebal S-100 operated by Bristow’s on our behalf.
Assistant Chief Coastguard Richard Hackwell said: “HM Coastguard is always keen to look at evolving technology and identify its potential uses in the next generation of search and rescue.” Engagement was really high among visitors, and we felt the two days were a fantastic opportunity to really share more about what we do and how technology can help us to achieve it.’
