THE ROYAL AIR FORCE has begun a programme to equip its Panavia Tornado GR4 interdictor-strike aircraft and the Eurofighter 2000 with a long-range electro-optical reconnaissance pod.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has operational analysis studies under way to determine the number of pods and ground stations necessary to meet the emerging requirement.
Project definition studies, are expected to be awarded by the MoD, to be followed by selection of one of the project definition contractors, to carry out production of the system.
A draft tender document, is expected to be released by the end of this year, with an initial in-service date of around the year 2000.
Staff Requirement (Air) 1368 will be aimed primarily at procuring an electro-optical pod for its dedicated reconnaissance Tornado GR4s. A limited number of pods will also be acquired for Eurofighter 2000s tasked with reconnaissance operations.
A classified Pentagon study, Desert Storm Scud Campaign, into reconnaissance performance during the 1991 Gulf War identifies aircraft equipped with radar and electro-optic sensors as providing the most timely information of the location of Iraqi Scud short-range ballistic missiles. Other intelligence-gathering systems, including satellites, took up to 24h to produce usable data, according to the report. The KH-11 satellite took up to 1h to provide a warning and up to 14h to provide an image, while the Lacrosse radar satellite took 2-3h to provide a warning.
Source: Flight International
