Christine Thropp
A Teledyne Technologies business has introduced a payload designed to provide small unmanned aerial systems with laser-based target management capability.
The StormCaster-DX laser target designator payload is built for the FLIR R80D SkyRaider UAS platform and uses a Laser Spot Tracker for target area management, enabling a capability previously available only on larger drones or ground-based systems, Teledyne FLIR Defense said Tuesday.
The payload has user-defined target tracking for collecting information about coordinates and objects and vehicles’ speed. It features two FLIR Boson 640 longwave infrared thermal cameras for day or night operations. The technology is also equipped with artificial intelligence/computer vision-based targeting capability.
“For the first time, warfighters will be able to survey and manage the battlefield while performing laser designation with standoff from a rucksack-portable drone,” said JihFen Lei, executive vice president and general manager of Teledyne FLIR Defense.
