System Mounted On King Air 350ER Increases Current ISR
Collection Capabilities Significantly
Unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced Tuesday that under
subcontract to Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) of Wichita, KS,
it has successfully passed acceptance test procedure (ATP) testing
for the first of five Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance
(ISR) aircraft and related ground stations to be supplied to the
Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) under the US Government's Foreign Military
Sales (FMS) program.
The ISR aircraft and ground station met all requirements as
witnessed by the US Air Force FMS Program Office and HBC.
"The ISR package and fixed ground station met all technical
specifications, with easy maintainability of the equipment also
noted,” said Linden P. Blue, president, Reconnaissance
Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
"Additionally, the ISR package is fully integrated and requires
only one sensor operator onboard the aircraft to run the sensors
and transmit the data to the fixed ground station.”
The IqAF ISR ATP consisted of a series of test flights
demonstrating the sensor and communications equipment aboard the
modified Beechcraft King Air 350 Extended Range (ER) aircraft,
including the L-3 Communications Wescam MX-15i
electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret, L-3 Communications West
mini-T series airborne data link, Exclusive Charter Services
tailored sensor operator consoles, and GA-ASI CLAW integrated
sensor software.
The GA-ASI Lynx II synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target
indicator (SAR/GMTI) was demonstrated and will be delivered this
month after program modifications are made.
On the ground side, multiple man-transportable laptop video
receivers and a fixed ground station (FGS) received real-time ISR
data via data link communications from the aircraft from a
considerable distance. The first ground station was shipped to Iraq
immediately after testing, and the first aircraft departed for Iraq
in late June.
Representing a total end-to-end airborne ISR solution, the
equipment will increase current IqAF airborne reconnaissance and
intelligence collection capabilities significantly.
GA-ASI assembled and integrated the sensor and communications
equipment onto the aircraft operator console station and the fixed
ground station at its facilities in San Diego, CA. The company
recently completed sensor operator and maintenance training for US
and Iraqi Air Force operators and contract logistics support (CLS)
personnel.
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