GT500 Fleet Proposed For Department Of Homeland Security
While Quicksilver Aeronautics has produced more than 15,000 kit-built aircraft since the early 1970s, it has so far not been a significant player in the U.S. defense community. Thanks to a collaboration with Ident, LLC, that may be changing.
“Ident LLC announced (the submission of) a proposal for support and expansion of U.S. border security that the company believes can save taxpayers billions of dollars,” said Richard McCreight, Ident's Chief of Operations. Ident is a collaboration of successful technology companies headed by a select team of experts. The Jacksonville, FL company has entered into an agreement with California-based Quicksilver Aeronautics to employ the GT500 light aircraft, which was the very first to win FAA’s then-new Primary Aircraft approval in 1993.
“We are very pleased to work with such a top-flight technology company such as Ident,’ said Quicksilver Aeronautics President, Will Escutia. “Our GT500 has proven itself over decades of reliable operation and it fits the need of government agencies trying to spend their budget dollars wisely.”
Ident and its technology partners designed a unique airborne surveillance service to support the men and women who work to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. “By the nature of their hazardous duty, border personnel need the intelligence and protection of more ‘eyes in the sky’ to increase the probability of successful law enforcement,” observed McCreight.
Under the proposed plan, Ident would provide DHS with a fleet of small, affordable aircraft based on Quicksilver’s GT500. “These will work in concert like a swarm of annoying, persistent mosquitoes,” said McCreight. Controlled by DHS, these airborne agents provide an extended and mobile presence to disrupt and deny criminal border incursions while evolving and adapting to changing dynamics. Ident calls their version of the GT500 the Mosquito.
Blending aircraft, voice, data and video elements, Ident has identified and integrated each necessary component from available, low cost off-the-shelf technology. The comprehensive system supports sustainable fleet aircraft operation detecting and reporting border breaches to authorities across hundreds of miles of border. The company estimates that billions of taxpayers dollars can be saved by reducing direct and indirect costs through reducing the law enforcement and social service need for national and state resources.
“The estimated $1.9 billion saved in Arizona for one year alone is enough to implement Ident’s service for the entire 1,690 miles of the US/Mexico border for 10-years,” said McCreight, “providing much needed jobs for veterans and wounded warriors.”
(image provided by Quicksilver)
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