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.

FMI: www.ga-asi.com, www.hawkerbeechcraft.com