reconnaissance

In late 2000, Thales Optronique (Guyancourt, France) received a $393-million contract from France's defense-procurement agency (DGA) to develop and supply a newgeneration optronic airborne reconnaissance system for the French Air Force and Navy, the largest contract the company received from the DGA that year.

The F-14 Tomcat's TARPS (Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System) pod has been in service since 1981, and while other programs like ATARS and SHARP languished with funding cuts and delays, TARPS was the source of some of the first and best digital recce-technology advances in the world.

He recommended that management of EW be taken away from the services for about four years, using the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) model of the early '90s.

Department of Defense and allied military services extensively use the company's electric-powered, hand-launched Raven[R], Wasp[TM] and Puma[TM] systems to provide situational awareness to tactical operating units through real-time, airborne reconnaissance, surveillance and communication.

The first, valued at nearly $340 million, calls for the development and production of a new-generation airborne reconnaissance system for the French Air Force and Navy, to be installed initially aboard Mirage 2000N aircraft, followed by the Rafales under order for both services.

Existing capabilities and planned improvements will provide UHF SATCOM connectivity to the E-8 J-STARS aircraft via data link, receipt of Predator UAV video, and direct links for receipt of Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) and U2 MTI radar data.

Brian Scorpino, the F-18 Tactical Reconnaissance Team Lead, told JED that, though it was initially developed as a replacement for the F-14's Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System-Completely Digital (TARPS-CD), the SHARP is currently being qualified for the Super Hornet only.

Department of Defense and allied military services use the company's battery-powered, hand-launched unmanned aircraft systems extensively to provide situational awareness to tactical operating units through real-time, airborne reconnaissance, surveillance and communication.

In ceremonies at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport on August 29, officials from Northrop Grumman's California Microwave Systems officially presented the fifth Airborne Reconnaissance Low - Multi-function (ARL-M) aircraft to the commander of the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion.

37) means airborne sensors will be added as Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) nodes, and airborne reconnaissance and surveillance will be improved.

The US Army has tapped California Microwave Systems Airborne Systems (Belcamp, MD), part of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, to provide the service's Airborne Reconnaissance Low-Multifunction (ARL-M) aircraft with upgraded sensors.

7 million for airborne reconnaissance programs, a $78-million increase.

In addition to radar data from the US Air Force's E-8 Joint STARS aircraft, the CGS V(2) units also receive sensor data from the Airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft, the U-2, various unmanned aerial vehicles and all Intelligence Broadcast Service transmitters, including the Army's Guardrail/Common Sensor.