Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract for system evolution and maintenance of the US Air Force’s five Eagle Vision stations until 2019. Systems evolutions are related to foot print reduction (transit cases versus shelter), smaller antenna dishes and integration of new satellites.
The sustainment of the system covers 24/7 support, failure corrections with workaround solutions, spares management, preventive maintenance, training and support during deployments.
Eagle Vision is the world's first lightweight deployable, commercial satellite imagery downlink ground system. It provides the users with a unique combination of optical, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), medium and very high resolution capabilities supporting wartime operations, natural disaster relief operations and Homeland Defense preparations. The use of commercial satellites allows the data to be freely shared among the allied forces.
Today, the system is in its 4th generation and receives imagery from SPOT 6/7, TerraSAR-X/Tandem-X constellations operated by Airbus Defence and Space together with Radarsat and RapidEye. Upgrades of Eagle Vision are planned for receiving and processing data from WorldView and Pleiades satellites.
For Airbus Defence and Space this is the uninterrupted successful continuity of a program started in 1993. Since then, more than 20 satellites have been integrated into the system depending on their availability and life cycle.
Eagle Vision is sponsored by the US Air Force ISR Innovations office at the Pentagon and the program management office at Hanscom Air Force Base. Within the Department of Defense inventory, the systems are assigned to Ramstein Air Base (Germany), San Diego Air National Guard Station (California), McEntire Joint National Guard Base (South Carolina), Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (Hawaii) and Redstone Arsenal (Alabama).
Meanwhile, Airbus Defense and Space, Inc., has installed and put into operation the third TRS-3D naval radar (photo) for the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program through its agreement with LCS prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. The radar has been integrated on the third “Freedom” variant of the new Littoral Combat Ships, “Milwaukee” (LCS 5). In total, eight TRS-3D radars, designated AN/SPS-75 by the U.S. Navy, have passed their equipment acceptance tests, each now in varying stages of installation within the “USS Freedom” variant ships.
The TRS-3D is a three-dimensional, multimode naval radar for surveillance, self-defense, gunfire support, and helicopter control. It is used to automatically locate and track all types of air and sea targets.
Among the ships equipped with TRS-3D are the National Security Cutters of the U.S. Coast Guard, and outside the U.S., the K130 corvettes of the German Navy, the “Squadron 2000” patrol boats of the Finnish Navy and the Norwegian Coast Guard “Nordkapp” and “Svalbard” icebreakers.
