Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and ITT Exelis
[XLS] recently reached initial operational capability on Vigilant Stare, a manned aircraft-based Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance (WAPS) concept demonstrator, according to an SNC official.
Vigilant Stare reached IOC on Aug. 22 after full system acceptance flight test completion, Dave Bullock, Sierra Nevada vice president for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) persistent surveillance systems, told Defense Daily in an email.
Danny Rajan, ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems director of airborne and emerging solutions, said in a statement ITT Exelis and SNC remain on track to make Vigilant Stare available for operations by the end of 2012. He also said the companies are in discussions with customers regarding specific operational scenarios ranging from persistent WAPS for public events to supporting border security operations.
Hosted on a Viking Air DH-6 Twin Otter short takeoff and landing (STOL) utility aircraft, Vigilant Stare will offer a proven, advanced solution in airborne WAPS on an affordable, fee-for-service basis, according to an ITT Exelis statement. Vigilant Stare can also be used on other manned aircraft platforms such as the Bombardier Q200, Dornier 328, King Air 350 and Pilatus PC-12. King Air is a division of Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company.
Bullock said SNC is Vigilant Stare’s prime integrator and the supplier of all air and ground equipment, with the exception of the Exelis integrated electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret. Exelis provides sensor systems.
ITT Exelis said the Vigilant Stare commercially-based backend has proven in recent testing by SNC the concept that imagery chip-outs can be provided directly, and in real time, via a WIMAX/4G LTE dissemination channel to field elements using common off-the-shelf hand-held devices.
Vigilant Stare’s integrated EO/IR sensor collects synoptic, day/night motion imagery of city-sized fields of regard with multiple sub-views of the full field of view. Best-resolution tactical chip-outs are also provided in real time to both centralized command centers as well as to dispersed users employing commercial devices, including tablets and phones.