Saab enhances Skeldar UAV's ISR capabilities
Saab has integrated its Skeldar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with the Multi-Sensor Intelligence Cell (MSIC), enhancing the system’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
The MSIC is a ground-based system designed to collect, process, analyse and report intelligence data, ‘closing the loop’ between airborne surveillance units and C4I systems. The system delivers real-time sensor analysis to the mission commander, and gives users a vital ‘sensor-to-shooter’ capability as it can provide precise, CAT 1 targeting coordinates from the sensor data.
Following the completion of Skeldar-MSIC integration work, Saab verified full combined functionality during a series of Skeldar flights at Saab’s Motala test facility in February 2014.
Björn Klerestam, MSIC product manager, Saab, said: ‘The MSIC has always been able to handle data from multiple ISR sources by acting as a stand-alone intelligence centre. Now we also have a system that enables us to scale-up the functionality of MSIC into a more integrated part of the ground control station of a UAS system like Skeldar.’
The Skeldar UAV is gaining traction in the international market, with the system’s first operational deployment in November 2013 when the Spanish Navy deployed Skeldar aboard a ship in the Bay of Aden, as part of Operation Atalanta.
Björn Palmér, director of Saab’s Product Area Tactical UAS, said: ‘There is a great interest in the naval market, as proven by the Spanish deployment, but there is also a growing interest in Skeldar from customers in other domains.’
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