Tim Ripley/LONDON
UK Royal Air Force BAC Canberra PR9 strategic reconnaissance aircraft have been equipped with highly sensitive US satellite datalinks to allow real-time transmission of electro-optical (EO) surveillance imagery, according to US Air Force reconnaissance specialists.
The SYERS (Senior Year Electro-Optical Relay System) datalink, which is fitted to USAF Lockheed Martin U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, has been in use on two of the five operational Canberras since September 1999 and has recently served over the Balkans and the Middle East.
SYERS cameras were fitted to the Canberras in 1997 under the Rapid Deployable Electro-Optical Systems (RADEOS) upgrade by FR Aviation, but the datalink was not available for "security reasons".
US sources say the SYERS camera has a slant range of "around 100 miles [160km]", giving the Canberra a good stand-off capability for the first time. SYERS can download still frames in near-real time, but not video images.
The UK is the only country cleared to receive SYERS. The cameras were developed for the U-2 in the late 1980s by Itek, a division of Litton, now part of Northrop Grumman.
The USA retains close control over SYERS because the Canberra's "intelligence take" has to be routed through the US Mobile Stretch (MOBSTR) image compression ground stations.
Imagery is routed via US satellites for processing at Beale AFB, California, before transmission to UK facilities. An RAF team based at Beale AFB oversees the process. The Joint Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre at RAF Brampton and the Permanent Joint Headquarters at RAF Northwood are the main UK users.
For Balkans operations, such as recent missions over Macedonia, Canberras are deployed to Gioia del Colle in Italy and EO imagery is down-linked via the MOBSTR site at San Vito, near Brindisi. For Iraq operations, the Canberras operate from Gioia or RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, with imagery downloaded to a MOBSTR site in the Gulf.
Source: Flight International
