Arthur McMiler
Northrop Grumman has completed Phase 2 demonstration of its deep-sensing and targeting system, or DSaT, for gathering multiple space-based sensor data during the U.S. Army’s recent Vanguard 24 event at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. DSaT was installed on a civilian aircraft for in-flight gathering and processing of data to provide the Army with targeting intelligence, Northrop said Monday.
During the Vanguard exercise held from Sept. 8 to 20, the company demonstrated the system’s beyond line of sight communications capability for seamless integration into current networks. The demo also tested the incorporation of automation and intelligence analysis services in DSaT to boost its efficiency, accuracy and speed.
Pablo Pezzimenti, Northrop Grumman’s vice president for integrated national systems, noted that space-based data delivered to an aircraft provide enhanced flexibility in intelligence processing and distribution for decision-making. “DSaT demonstrates our capability to move data at the speed of future warfare to best support the warfighter’s targeting needs while not bound by land or sea,” he said.
The system’s Phase 1 testing was held during the U.S. Army’s Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event in August 2023 at Yuma, Arizona, wherein the DSaT was operated from a Bombardier CRJ-700 jet to collate multidomain data and analyze information from commercial satellites.
The Phase 2 test is aligned with the development of the Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, or HADES, platform to provide U.S. warfighters a deep sensing capability. In October 2023, L3Harris Technologies announced that it had partnered with Leidos and MAG Aerospace to form a team to compete in the HADES project’s aircraft fleet requirements.
