Jane Edwards
A United Technologies Corp. subsidiary and the Air National Guard have wrapped up an operational evaluation of an airborne reconnaissance platform aboard the General Atomics-built MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The 174th attack wing of the New York Air National Guard conducted the assessment of UTC Aerospace Systems’ DB-110 aerial sensor in fall 2017 to evaluate the platform’s use in delivering defense support to civil personnel during natural disasters and other domestic missions, UTC Aerospace said Wednesday.
DB-110 is an electro-optic/infrared pod that works to generate high-resolution imagery during night and day at a slant range of at least 80 nautical miles.
The dual-band reconnaissance system is designed to gather over 10,000 square miles of imagery per hour to help users assess hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters in support of humanitarian relief missions.
The Air National Guard selected UTC Aerospace in 2017 to install and assess DB-110 systems on the 174th attack wing’s Reaper drones.
The service will also evaluate the MS-110 sensor and its interoperability with the Reaper and C-130 Hercules aircraft.
MS-100 works to generate multispectral color imagery across seven bands to help users survey critical infrastructure in unfavorable weather conditions.
