Sat, Mar 06, 2021
First-Of-Its-Kind Aircraft Added To The IMSAR Fleet
To expand its radar testing capabilities and increase imaging services, IMSAR LLC recently added a first-of-its-kind aircraft to the IMSAR fleet. Appropriately named "Magnum," IMSAR's new multi-sensor Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform is built around Textron Aviation's Cessna T206H Turbo Stationair.
The Cessna T206H has a maximum Useful Load of around 1500 lbs, a modern avionics suite, and a low overall operating cost. Its special missions configuration incorporates several custom-designed and FAA-approved interior and exterior modifications, making Magnum a capable ISR aircraft that still retains a "normal category" designation.
Reported to be well suited for Multi-INT ISR missions, Magnum can also be used as a sensor testbed platform with multiple hard points on the wings and belly of the aircraft. The aircraft interior is equipped with a full-function sensor operator workstation, designed with an "open architecture" concept to ensure compatibility with multiple types of sensors and surveillance equipment, including IMSAR's Low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) Synthetic Aperture Radar pods and an L3Harris Wescam MX-10 EO/IR camera--providing all-weather, day and night imaging capabilities.
The high-performance mission computer can simultaneously run commercial or military-grade mission management software suites along with IMSAR's Lisa 3D C2 and PED software. Voice communications and sensor data can be streamed in real-time to multiple ground stations via an onboard Silvus Streamcaster MIMO datalink.
The high bitrate data link also allows full sensor control and real-time data exploitation from a ground station without the need for a backseat operator, maximizing the aircraft's endurance and time-on-station.
IMSAR maintains its own aviation department with full-time pilots who are skilled at flying IMSAR's radar systems safely and efficiently over a wide variety of terrain and in difficult environmental conditions. Magnum increases IMSAR's ability to test its multi-mode SAR systems at higher altitudes and speeds, and expands on IMSAR's capability to provide multi-sensor aerial imaging and ISR services.
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