Kestrel is a wide-area motion imagery (or persistent surveillance) system used on aerostats at U.S. forward operating bases in Afghanistan to monitor the surrounding areas. [1] Developed by Logos Technologies, the system is equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras, providing day/night force protection and overwatch to troops. [2]
Kestrel has its roots in Constant Hawk, a wide-area sensor suite developed by Logos Technologies as well, [3] in 2006, for use on crewed U.S. Army aircraft. [4] [5]
In late 2010, the ISR Task Force and Army requested a version of Constant Hawk for aerostats. Contracted through the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, the Kestrel program delivered four units [6] the following year. [1] However, these first four Kestrels lacked an infrared capability, [1] and by June 2012, were replaced by 10 day/night systems and six spares. [6]
In 2017, Logos Technologies unveiled its even lighter Kestrel Block II wide-area motion imagery system at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference, in Abu Dhabi. This new sensor saw its first sale to a military customer the following year. [7] [8]
Kestrel employs six cameras housed in a gimbal, providing a 360-degree panoramic view of “a city-sized” area” [6] in medium resolution. [9] The system allows operators to track multiple suspects at once [2] and can automatically monitor user-designated zones. [1] Kestrel transmits imagery to the user in real time and can also record up to 30 days of events. [9]
The next-generation Kestrel Block II shares those same capabilities, but in a smaller and lighter form factor (less than 85 pounds, or 40 kg, versus 150 pounds, or 68 kg). [10] [11]
The Kestrel system also has applications for border security. In March 2012, the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security conducted a seven-day demonstration of Kestrel in Nogales, Ariz. [9] [12] [13] Kestrel was mounted on an aerostat and worked in coordination with a high-resolution full motion video camera. [13] The purpose of the test was to see how well Kestrel could detect and track illegal entrants, drug smugglers and gunrunners crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. [9]
Since its deployment in Afghanistan and testing along the U.S.-Mexico border, Kestrel has led to the development of other wide-area sensors, such as Simera. Also an aerostat-mounted system, Simera is composed of 13 electro-optical cameras and weighs only 40lbs. However, unlike the original Kestrel system, Simera is exportable to non-U.S. countries. Four units were used by Brazil’s Ministry of Justice at the 2016 Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro. [14] [15]
• Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS-IS)
• Redkite
ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing the information they gather.
The Rapid Equipping Force (REF) was a United States Army organization headquartered in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The organization was charged with quickly providing Army units deployed globally with innovative government off-the-shelf and commercially available solutions that address urgent requirements within 180 days or less. The REF was able to do this through unique authorities and by maintaining a presence near the point of need. REF personnel were positioned in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait and mobile laboratories are available for quick solutions. Additionally, the REF empowered the Army at a grassroots level, enabling individual soldiers to communicate needs directly through simple request forms.
Aeronautics Ltd. is an Israeli company specializing in the manufacturing of Unmanned Aerial Systems for military uses. Since its establishment in 1997, the company has sold its products to more than 20 defense, military and homeland security customers in 15 countries. Its headquarters are in Yavne, Israel.
A tethered, moored or captiveballoon is a balloon that is restrained by one or more tethers attached to the ground and so it cannot float freely. The base of the tether is wound around the drum of a winch, which may be fixed or mounted on a vehicle, and is used to raise and lower the balloon.
The Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) is an American low-level airborne ground surveillance system that uses aerostats as radar platforms.
The unattended ground sensor (UGS) is under development as part of the United States Army's Future Combat Systems Program. For information on currently fielded UGS systems, refer to the Current Force UGS Program or CF UGS.
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The ARGUS-IS, or the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project contracted to BAE Systems.
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The Blue Devil blimp was a proposed reconnaissance airship that was built for the United States Air Force for use in the War in Afghanistan. It was designed to capture and process data from onboard sensors before delivering it to ground troops.
Constant Hawk is a United States Army wide-area motion imagery system flown on crewed reconnaissance aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Counter-IED equipment are created primarily for military and law enforcement. They are used for standoff detection of explosives and explosive precursor components and defeating the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) devices themselves as part of a broader counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, or law enforcement effort.
The Ground-Based Operational Surveillance System, G-BOSS, created by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, is a trailer-mounted tower with mounted surveillance systems and integrated with the command operations center (COC) used primarily by the United States Marine Corps during operations in the Global War on Terror. The G-BOSS is used primarily for force protection, checkpoint security, route reconnaissance, patrol over watch, improvised explosive devices emplacement detection, intelligence gathering, and personnel/vehicle identification.
RT Aerostats Systems is an Israeli company that designs and manufactures the SkyStar family of aerostats, for use in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications applications.
The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, was a tethered aerial detection system designed to track boats, ground vehicles, cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft, and other threats. The system had four primary components: two tethered aerostats which utilized a helium/air mix, armored mooring stations, sophisticated radars, and a processing station designed to communicate with anti-missile and other ground and airborne systems. Each system was referred to as an "orbit", and two orbits were built. The Army-led joint program which fielded JLENS was designed to complement fixed-wing surveillance aircraft, saving money on crew, fuel, maintenance and other costs, and give military commanders advance warning to make decisions and provide notifications. Following cost overruns, underperformance, declining support in Congress, and public scrutiny following a snapped tether which allowed one craft moored at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland to drift on a 100-mile uncontrolled descent across Pennsylvania, dragging its cable tether which damaged power lines and cut power to 20,000 homes, the program was suspended in October 2015, and completely discontinued by 2017.
Sentient Vision Systems is an Australian company headquartered in Port Melbourne, that produces automated object detection solutions for video from aircraft and surface sensors used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), search and rescue, and law enforcement. Sentient's solutions use computer vision software to detect and track objects of interest in full motion video (FMV), both electro-optic (EO) and infrared (IR) for land and maritime environments. Sentient Vision Systems is a private company.
Wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) is an approach to surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence-gathering that employs specialized software and a powerful camera system—usually airborne, and for extended periods of time—to detect and track hundreds of people and vehicles moving out in the open, over a city-sized area, kilometers in diameter. For this reason, WAMI is sometimes referred to as wide-area persistent surveillance (WAPS) or wide-area airborne surveillance (WAAS).
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The Buckeye system is an operational airborne surveying system that provides high-resolution spatial imagery over an area of interest to support military operations involved with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Once mounted on a helicopter or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), it incorporates visual information from a digital camera and elevation data from a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system to create a two and three-dimensional colored map with orthorectified, 4 to 6-inch resolution.
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