General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has revealed an advanced version of the synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication sensor deployed on the US Army's MQ-1C Sky Warrior unmanned aircraft system.
The Lynx advanced multi-channel radar (AMR) on 7 May demonstrated its ability to track individual people, or "dismounts", moving on the ground, the company says.
Conducted from its Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, California, the flight marks "the first time that radar dismount detection capability has been demonstrated on a Predator-class aircraft", says Linden Blue, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' reconnaissance systems group.
Blue says the Lynx AMR will be offered by the end of the year as an upgrade for the army's Sky Warriors, which will soon be officially renamed the "Gray Eagle" fleet.
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© Sgt Travis Zielinski/US Army |
The US Army already operates the Sky Warrior UAS in Iraq |
The company is supplying its baseline Lynx radar design for use with deployed Sky Warriors on an interim basis.
Although the Lynx was originally selected for the Sky Warrior fleet, the army reopened the competition for the sensor package in 2007 and awarded a production contract for Northrop Grumman's StarLite system.
However, the StarLite was not available for deployment on a quick reaction capability to Afghanistan this year, so the service decided to field Sky Warriors initially with the Lynx radar.
In early May, Northrop also announced the StarLite has demonstrated the ability to track dismounted human targets moving on the ground.
Tracking "dismounts" in Afghanistan's rugged terrain has become a key technology priority for the army.
Northrop's vehicle and dismount exploitation radar is also being developed to perform the role exclusively. It is expected to be fielded in Afghanistan aboard the Boeing A160 Hummingbird UAS.
Source: Flight International
