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Pilots of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) monitor enemy targets with an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) high-resolution imaging system built by Raytheon, Corp.’s Space and Airborne Systems division, El Segundo, Calif.
Combined with other sensors, the package is called the Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS), and is slated to fly aboard the Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk. Raytheon delivered the first production shipment of Lot-3 units in November.
ISS combines a cloud-penetrating synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna with a ground moving target indicator (GMTI), a high-resolution electro-optical (EO) digital camera, and an infrared (IR) sensor. Because those components are integrated, battlefield commanders can select radar, infrared, or visible wavelength modes to suit their mission.
Current ISS units provide near-real-time imagery for missions in Iraq. Raytheon engineers are also building a next-generation enhanced ISS, which will extend the range capabilities of both the SAR and EO sensors by 50 percent over the basic ISS. For more information, see www.raytheon.com.
Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance craft that can linger at 60,000 feet for 36 hours, providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data to military field commanders. Used to scan large areas, they can cover an area of 40,000 square nautical miles with 1-meter resolution within 24 hours, or to spot specific targets, they can search 1,900 2-by-2-km spots with 0.33-meter resolution.
Military & Aerospace Electronics January, 2006
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