Posted by Courtney E. Howard

SUFFOLK, Va., 16 March 2010. The U.S. Joint Forces Command is testing a brand new video intelligence system delivered by Lockheed Martin that will help commanders take better control of the flood of video being generated on the modern battlefield. The Valiant Angel system uses broadcast television technology to help commanders collect, archive, search, analyze, and share full-motion video.

This first Valiant Angel system was delivered just over 90 days after contract award. Joint Forces Command awarded a team comprised of Lockheed Martin, Harris Corp., and NetApp a $29 million contract to develop the system in September. The Valiant Angel Network Operations Center and first node was delivered on December 4th to the Command's Joint Intelligence Laboratory, where it is undergoing integration testing in advance of a planned deployment to Afghanistan this spring.

"Full-motion video is one of today's most pressing tactical intelligence challenges," says Dan Rice, Lockheed Martin vice president for Spatial Solutions. "With so many sensors out there generating so much video, it can be overwhelming for the user to manage. Joint Forces Command recognized early on that this challenge was in need of an innovative new solution -- and one that could get into the hands of warfighters immediately. We're proud to be working with USJFCOM to rapidly turn Valiant Angel from contract award into an operational system."

Once the system completes the testing phase, Lockheed Martin will produce and field several Valiant Angel "nodes" to Afghanistan. Each node consists of a suite of high-capacity servers that store and archive video footage from multiple sensors and UAVs, coupled with a software system that lets users catalog, tag, search, and analyze video clips. For instance, users can search the archive for a specific person or vehicle, or they can fuse mapping, geospatial, and multi-source intelligence data with video feeds to conduct in-depth analysis. Valiant Angel works with both archived video and with live, incoming video streams.

The Valiant Angel system incorporates tools and technologies from Lockheed Martin's Audacity video analysis system, Harris Corp.'s Full-Motion Video Asset Management System (FAME), and NetApp's Data ONTAP high-performance storage technology.

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