PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) returned to Portsmouth after a 56-day patrol.
The Harriet Lane patrolled the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean during its deployment and included a week-long training period as well as testing a prototype of a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS).
The Coast Guard says the sUAS system is designed to extend the surveillance capability of the cutter and the purpose of the test was to verify the compatibility of the system with a medium endurance cutter platform.
While in the Eastern Pacific, the Harriet Lane interdicted three go-fast vessels, carrying a combined total of approximately 3,882 pounds of suspected cocaine and 2,527 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of $72 million of illegal narcotics.
One of the encounters involved an airborne use of force executed by a trained Coast Guard crew member aboard a US Navy helicopter which launched from USS Nitze.
Harriet Lane’s boarding team then took control of the vessel after it was disabled.
