Providing an Eye in the Sky & overall situational awareness

At Paris Air Show 2017 in Le Bourget, France, taking place next week, Elbit Systems will reveal the SkEye WAPS (wide area persistent video surveillance) innovative wide area persistent surveillance solution.

“Visual Intelligence (VISINT) gathering was traditionally available in a designated video format, where the user could see and record only the area the Electro Optic (EO) payload was viewing, while missing the surrounding area. SkEye WAPS changes this paradigm by persistently observing and recording a wider area than ever before,” according to the company, and offering the system’s users the ability to select real-time or “back in time” video footage within the covered area without being limited to a single segment. Up to ten Regions of Interest (ROI) can be thoroughly analysed simultaneously using video footage from the recent and previous missions.

Developed specifically to address requirements raised by defence and law enforcement agencies, responding to natural disaster recovery events, terrorism and homeland security threats, SkEye WAPS comprises advanced capabilities in the field of imagery intelligence, aka VISINT, gathering, providing a complete high-resolution picture and up to 80 square kilometre coverage of the Area of Interest (AOI) to a large number of users.

“SkEye WAPS provides a clearer picture in less time, thus exponentially increasing trust in the decision making process,” the company explains. While looking over a large AOI, operators can zoom into multiple ROIs simultaneously and understand the connection between them. This is achieved without neglecting the rest of the area, which is still being recorded and constantly analysed.

At the heart of the system is an airborne segment consisting of the EO sensor unit, an advanced image processing unit, a large mass storage unit and analysis applications. Via an embedded data link, the relevant information is transmitted from the aircraft to the SkEye, Control and Management Center (SCMC – fixed or mobile), which can be integrated with the customer’s Command & Control (C2) solution.

“Elbit Systems’ SkeEye WAPS system is a game changer in homeland security missions, enabling forces to analyse and retrace the steps of terrorists and criminals in an extremely large area, providing them with timely and valuable data in life threatening situations,” Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis, Elbit Systems’ President & CEO, said. “In light of recent threats worldwide and particularly in Europe, SkEye WAPS provides meaningful leverage to security organisations in intelligence gathering mission and countering terrorist threats.”

The payload was first seen on the cover of MT 06/2017, available at the show.