GA-ASI, BAE Systems Join to Enhance Military Analysis Under Air Force Contract

Released on Friday, August 08, 2008

SAN DIEGO, California � General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) and BAE Systems will jointly develop architecture to automate the detection and identification of ground battle targets. The companies will jointly integrate the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Continuous Look Attack Management for Predator® (CLAMP) program under a $6 million Air Force contract.

CLAMP will integrate a high-resolution Lynx® synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with other sensors on an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft under an effort called C-RIP, for CLAMP-Reaper Integration Program. GA-ASI builds the Reaper aircraft and Lynx radar. The C-RIP sensors will evaluate imagery collected by the radar during Reaper surveillance operations, detecting changes in the battle space, classifying enemy vehicles, and displaying results to analysts on the ground.

"This architecture is a significant leap forward in that it allows the synthetic aperture radar operator to use high-resolution imagery of the Lynx radar in parallel with other MQ-9 sensors," said Linden Blue, president of GA-ASI's Reconnaissance Systems Group. "This program will enhance efficiency of image analysis by providing automated exploitation tools."

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and BAE Systems in late 2007 signed a memorandum of understanding that joins GA-ASI's development of reconnaissance sensors and sensor control systems for unmanned aircraft systems with BAE Systems' expertise in sensor data processing and exploitation.

"BAE Systems' intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance exploitation systems will maximize the capabilities of the GA-ASI sensor and sensor control systems for unmanned aircraft systems such as Reaper," said Nils Sandell, vice president of advanced information technologies for BAE Systems in Burlington, Massachusetts. "Combining our expertise, we can provide improved capabilities to ensure the effectiveness and safety of U.S. armed forces."