Five-Week Course Supports ISR Platform Procurement

Inzpire Ltd has announced a contract to provide a five-week training course to the Latvian Air Force, to support the procurement of a new unmanned ISR platform.

The students will receive an adapted version of an unmanned and remotely-piloted ISR Tactics course, modified to fit specific local requirements, and with mission-planning tasks based on actual areas in which the systems will be deployed. The curriculum covers the basics of ISR, but has been expanded to include aspects of tactical employment. It will also furnish users with skills to enable successful integration of the Latvian platform and data into NATO ISR systems. Training will involve classroom sessions and live flying training.

“[NATO] requires those armed forces on its Eastern flank to prepare for and manage the protection of its own critical national infrastructure, and the Latvian Air Force (LAF) plays a key role in providing a comprehensive defence response against an evolving number of security threats and challenges,” stated Andy Bain, Head of Inzpire’s ISR division. “Inzpire’s inclusive UAS and ISR training will enable the LAF to further develop their own indigenous ISR capability and decisively manage and integrate their UAS into the NATO Joint ISR system for wider ISR collection.”

The platform Latvia is acquiring, and for which the training is required, has not yet been made public. The country has been operating the UAV Factory’s Penguin B small, fixed-wing system for some years and, in December 2019, signed a contract to acquire the Penguin C aircraft. UAV Factory launched a VTOL version of Penguin B in the summer of 2021, and noted at that time that the existing B system was in use in almost 50 countries.