KATHMANDU \u2014 Singapore on Thursday (Sept 10) handed over six drones to the Nepal Police at its Kathmandu headquarters.<\/p>\n
Four DJI Mavic 4 Pro and two DJI Matrice 4 drones were taken to Nepal by the 35-member Singapore contingent<\/a> comprising officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and Home Team Science and Technology (HTX).\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the manufacturer’s specification sheet listed on its website, these drones have an average flight time of about 45 minutes and an operating range of about 30km. The Matrice 4 drones are also equipped with thermal capabilities.<\/p>\n Four unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) trainers from the Singapore police have spent over a week working with their Nepali counterparts to hone their skills in operating the drones.<\/p>\n It appears that the Nepali officers have attained some operating competency, based on observations by AsiaOne photojournalist Rauf Khan.<\/p>\n Standing on one end of the field, Rauf has his lenses trained on Superintendent (Supt) Sum Tuck Meng, who heads operations and training at the Home Team UAV Command, and his Nepali counterpart.<\/p>\n The objective set by Supt Sum: Fly the drone towards the AsiaOne photojournalist to look for “signs of a survivor”.<\/p>\n The Nepali officer did well with just brief cues from his experienced trainer, and Rauf went on to file this story unscathed.<\/p>\n The drones are expected to supplement the larger heavy-lift drones that are being used to deliver relief to displaced people<\/a> by providing wide-area monitoring to help identify safe flight paths.<\/p>\n It can also be used to conduct aerial assessment of areas that may be difficult or unsafe to access.<\/p>\n Such drones are already in use by the Nepali army in its search and rescue operations.<\/p>\n Commander of the Singapore contingent, Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Patrick Tan, said at the handover event that the two police forces have a “very close relationship”, noting that Nepali citizens serve in the SPF’s Gurkha contingent.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We hope that our small contribution in this aspect will be able to help our Nepali friends during these difficult times,” he added.<\/p>\n Nepal’s Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Dan Bahadur Karki also spoke of the long history of friendship and cooperation between the two police forces, adding that the drones are not merely a piece of technology.<\/p>\n “They are vital tools that will immediately enhance our operational reach, allowing us to inspect inaccessible areas,” the police chief said.<\/p>\n Beyond supporting ongoing post-disaster recovery efforts, IGP Karki highlighted that the drones directly advance Nepal Police’s vision to establish its own specialised UAV unit.<\/p>\n “The integration of drone capabilities into our day-to-day policing will fundamentally expand our operational capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This will transform how we handle disaster management in future, tactical reconnaissance, crime investigations, and public safety missions,” he said.<\/p>\n Turning briefly to the nine Singaporeans who remain missing<\/a> after the deadly Aug 26 floods, IGP Karki said his heart goes out to their families.<\/p>\n He said that Nepal Police remains fully committed to locating those still reported as missing so that their families can get answers.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, AC Tan told AsiaOne that the Singapore contingent is focused on supporting the Nepali authorities with their ongoing relief efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n This, he said, includes the identification of victims, including Singaporean victims.<\/p>\n “We will continue to work closely with our Nepali counterparts and provide whatever assistance we can during our deployment,” AC Tan added.<\/p>\n Singapore’s High Commissioner to India Simon Wong, who is concurrently accredited to Nepal, noted in a social media post on Thursday evening that officers from the two police forces have been exchanging best practices over the past nearly two weeks.<\/p>\n “We are confident that the drones will help in Nepal’s disaster recovery efforts,” he said.<\/p>\n [[nid:744821]]<\/p>\n editor@asiaone.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n KATHMANDU \u2014 Singapore on Thursday (Sept 10) handed over six drones to the Nepal Police at its Kathmandu headquarters. Four DJI Mavic 4 Pro and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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