Tue, Dec 22, 2009
Increased Need For Intelligence Gathering And Surveillance
A top Air Force General says more
UAV's are being deployed along with manned systems in the skies
over Afghanistan in support of the troop surge called for by
President Obama.
Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told reporters
Wednesday that air capabilities would be expanded over the next 8
months. Among the technology being deployed is the MQ-9 Reaper,
which can beam as many as 10 individual video feeds back to its
operators simultaneously.
The Associated Press reports that Deptula says a total of 30
MC-12W manned reconnaissance aircraft will be working in Iraq and
Afghanistan in the coming months. Six are currently deployed in
Iraq, he said. He also said the Air Force would be making use of
its latest UAS, called "The Beast Of Kandahar", which resembles a
B-2 Bomber ... but would not provide any operations details about
that system.
Deptula told reporters that the Air Force was also providing
liaison officers to other branches of the service to help them
match aircraft to the missions they need to accomplish. Not ever
mission needs the large Predator or Reaper UAV's he said. Some were
better accomplished by the smaller Raven system, he said.
Reaper UAV
He also said by late summer, the "Gorgon Stare" system would be
deployed in Afghanistan. The surveillence system can cover an
estimated 2 1/2 square miles, and send as many as 10 different
video streams to 10 different ground stations simultaneously. The
data will be distributed to bases worldwide to keep up with the
demand for analysis, he said.
The final number of manned and unmanned systems to be deployed
with the surge has yet to be determined, Deptula said.
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