Wide Area Persistent Surveillance Capabilities

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) unveiled WASP, a new-generation surveillance system that provides a high-resolution situational awareness picture of moving targets day and night in a wide-area of interest, on 8 February.

Using state-of-the-art EO and IR sensors, AI algorithms and adaptive rule engines, the system captures large areas at a high revisit rate, to track, identify and alert operators to moving targets correlating with mission objectives. Compact, lightweight and with low power consumption, WASP suits a wide range of airborne platforms, such as tactical UAS, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft or tethered surveillance platforms.

WASP’s coverage area and resolution is adaptable, according to platform and operating altitude. Mounted on a tactical UAV, such as the BirdEye 650D, WASP covers two square kilometers in optimal resolution to detect all types of moving targets. When mounted on a MALE UAV, such as the HERON 1, the coverage area expands to over 15 square kilometers to detect vehicle-sized objects.

Moshe Levy, General Manager of IAI’s Military Aircraft Group, stated “The development of WASP exemplifies IAI’s novel strategy to ISR systems development, intelligence and information fusion capabilities. By providing a highly detailed intelligence picture in a wide area, WASP provides excellent two-layer situational awareness that comprises both visual and intelligence information. As a compact and light system, it can be mounted on a range of platforms to provide strong intelligence capabilities already on the tactical level.”