Affordable Persistent Surveillance In a Multi-Mission Package

CONTROP Precision Technologies has built a reputation for precision surveillance equipment and outstanding performance – a reputation it continues to enhance with the launch of the SPEED-LR multi-sensor, multi-mission surveillance system, announced on 23 November.

At one level of consideration, the casual observer might believe there is nothing particularly new about SPEED-LR: it demonstrates similar capabilities to its sister devices in the SPEED family of smart multi-mission land systems – the SPEED-MR and -ER; it is also a fixed site system; and it is engineered with the capacity for future expansion and modification as mission requirements demand and technological capabilities allow. But that would miss the essential characteristic of the SPEED-LR: its performance in delivering capability “at way over the benchmark for the price level,“ in the words of Guy Oren, CONTROP’s VP of International Marketing & Sales.

Two years in the development stage and customer-funded, the SPEED-LR will be available at prices that compare very favourably with the benchmark for systems of this sort – which MON understands to be in the region of $250,000, according to independent research. But SPEED-LR delivers vastly greater advantages to the user, according to Oren. “We are delivering 80% of the capability [of much heavier, extended-range systems] at half the price – and that is extremely attractive to a whole host of potential users,“ he told MON prior to the launch.

Distinguished by gyro-based stabilisation and by simultaneous reporting from four sensors (high definition medium- and high resolution short-wave infrared, high definition day colour camera and a laser rangefinder), SPEED-LR promises “not just observation but scanning as well – with a field of view at perhaps 1°,“ Oren emphasised. Successful scanning at the sort of ranges the systems will operate at – typically 20-40km – requires extremely good stability “in which we are several years ahead [of major competitors],“ according to Oren. This is a technology that has been part of CONTROP’s DNA since its foundation and continues to evolve to both the company’s and the user community’s advantage.

SPEED-LR is currently intended for fixed site installation – pole- or mast-mounted. However, at 45kg, the system is lightweight enough to be mounted on mobile platforms such as tactical or patrol vehicles. The fully digital, multi-spectral, multi-sensor systems represents a new standard in persistent land surveillance, the company believes, particularly for rapid detection and identification of potential threats from increased distances. The line-of-sight stabilisation ensures operators receive sharp images at narrow fields of view, even when fully zoomed in.