GA-ASI’s Predator B UAS
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions, has successfully participated in NATO’s Unified Vision (UV14) Trial at Ørland Main Air Station in Brekstad, Norway, May 19-28.
Sponsored by the NATO Joint Capability Group on Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (JCGISR), the Joint ISR (JISR) trial focused on demonstrating the ability to deliver JISR effectively to the warfighter and decision-makers and to increase operational effectiveness of the Joint Forces. UV14 was attended by over 2,000 participants from NATO partner nations, as well as Australia, Finland, and Sweden.
GA-ASI participated in the trial for the second time, demonstrating a Predator® B/MQ-9 Reaper® surrogate (manned King Air 350) with a Lynx® Block 20A Multi-mode Radar, a FLIR Star SAFIRE 3800HD Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and L-3 Com Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL), along with GA-ASI’s Claw® payload management software, System for Tactical Archival, Retrieval, and Exploitation (STARE) software, and Link 16 integration.
“Our sensor management system takes FMV [Full Motion Video] and radar feeds from the Reaper surrogate and other platforms and makes them available to the NATO ISR enterprise,” said Linden P. Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. “With each successive Unified Vision exercise, we improve our ability to share ISR data with NATO partners.”
GA-ASI’s involvement was highlighted by the effectiveness of its STARE networking system, which filled critical gaps in collecting and disseminating Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, stationary and moving target information (both ground and maritime), and Standard and High-Definition (HD) video to NATO coalition shared databases during the various operational scenarios. The system can archive or rebroadcast feeds from multiple systems, including the Reaper surrogate, Norwegian and German P-3s, a Norwegian F-16, the U.S. Army’s Persistent Threat Detection System (aerostat) and its associated Persistent Ground Surveillance System, and Italian Raven and Romanian Hirrus Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
The Reaper surrogate successfully demonstrated all-weather capabilities with the Lynx radar and participated in all mission profiles, including flights during inclement weather. GA-ASI’s Claw® sensor control and image analysis software provided coordinated command and control of the radar and FLIR sensor, while STARE provided Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) capabilities.
STARE also was utilized to rebroadcast and share Reaper and other NATO ISR data successfully across multiple levels of security to unclassified and classified NATO network partners and provide “Reaper” Link 16 position and targeting information to all NATO air assets participating in the trial.
Both raw ISR data and derived products can be disseminated with STARE, using open standard formats to DoD and NATO coalition systems such as Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) and NATO Coalition Shared Database (CSD).
