Army leaders consider cubesats and artificial intelligence (AI) for real-time targeting from low-Earth orbit

July 29, 2021
Gunsmoke-J satellites will complete on-orbit demonstrations in 2021, culminating in a military assessment and transition to an Army program of record.

WASHINGTON – It’s no secret that U.S. Army leaders want the ability to target threats using imagery satellites, and now the service has a trio of bread loaf-sized cubesats on orbit to help test that capability. Defense News reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

29 July 2021 -- The Army is keen to use the vantage of space to find and target beyond-line-of-sight threats. While satellite imagery has traditionally been a product of the intelligence community, the development of relatively affordable yet highly capable small satellites that can operate in low Earth orbit has convinced military leaders that it can play a tactical role on the battlefield.

In a demonstration last fall, the Army showed it could take images from satellites down to Earth, process them with artificial intelligence (AI) to find threats, and deliver targeting data to weapon systems in about 20 seconds.

That speed of targeting is opening a whole slew of possibilities to commanders by enabling them to see further down the battlefield in near real time than ever before.

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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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