L-3 Sonoma EO [LLL] said May 15 it has successfully completed an end-to-end demonstration of its DragonEyes Tactical Overwatch Wide Area Airborne Surveillance System, flown on a Cessna Caravan.
This surveillance development is of interest to the Army and Special Operations Forces, particularly as it is smaller and lighter than current wide area surveillance sensors. Also, the system is in a gimbaled turret, so operators can easily move to directions of interest without actually moving the aircraft in that direction.
The demonstrations occurred in March 2014 in Sanford, N.C., not far from Ft. Bragg, and validated the system’s ability to track dismounted individuals via an L-3 Communication Systems-West VORTEX data link.
L-3’s DragonEyes allows operators to track all threats in a tactical mission–either from a vehicle or on the ground, day or night–and is able to integrate with multiple intelligence sources.
Packaged into an industry-standard, 15-inch turret, DragonEyes uses
ForceX Inc.’s embedded IronVision software and leverages industry and Defense Department integration and operations standards, ensuring ease of installation and simplified training.
“DragonEyes greatly improves situational awareness for the battle manager, while providing ground users with a tailored picture relevant to their tactical location,” said Dom Houlemard, director of advanced programs at L-3 Sonoma EO. “The system is compact and designed to easily fit onto today’s tactical manned and unmanned ISR platforms.”
“IronVision is the enabler for DragonEyes,” added Luke Savoie, vice president of business development for ForceX, Inc. “DragonEyes delivers on Tactical Overwatch, a capability I desired in my days on gunship and other SOF platforms. With this system, we could achieve with one aircraft what previously took three to four aircraft to accomplish.”
From a single large-format thermal camera, DragonEyes can stream up to 10 chip-outs of an image to airborne and ground users via the SCARECROW-Enabled Electronic Unit (SEEU) video server that comes with every DragonEyes system. The SEEU, with its embedded IronVision software, delivers command and control for each of the independent streams. The streams are synced to time-critical geo-locations utilizing open-source interfaces, whether using blue force tracker cues or other intel sources. The system then streams high-resolution video content to the ground using all the data links currently supporting DoD operations.