Army seeks thousands of high-speed, low-Earth-orbit satellites to assist with ground attack targeting

Oct. 13, 2020
U.S. military may deploy as many as 600 networked fast LEO satellites, with about 600 deployed thus far, with plans to add as many as 60 per month.

WASHINGTON – An armored combat vehicle in Arizona engaged in a ground attack mission to destroy an enemy tank target, after receiving targeting cues via radio from an overhead surveillance drone, mini-drone, and helicopter. Kris Osborn at Warrior Maven reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

13 Oct. 2020 -- Details and locations on the target, however, first came from fast-moving, low-altitude satellites operated from the state of Washington.

The Army’s Project Convergence 2020, a live-fire experiment in the Arizona desert to prepare the service for accelerated, high-speed attack, leveraged advanced satellite connectivity to find and transmit target data quickly across large portions of the U.S., demonstrating new levels of cross-domain attack.

A series of smaller, faster, lower-altitude Low Earth Orbit satellites operating from Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state sent targeting information to live attack experiments in real time happening at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., bringing new dimensions to high-speed, long-range targeting.

Related: Lockheed Martin to build legacy electro-optical targeting avionics pods for U.S. allied combat aircraft

Related: Navy picks Assurance Technology for new ways of sending radio signals from the ground to space and aircraft

Related: Navy asks IMSAR to build multi-mode radar for small UAV able to track moving targets on the ground

John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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