Northrop Grumman begins Optical Bar Camera testing on Global Hawk

[Zarvan]

Northrop Grumman is testing U-2 sensor payloads - continuing with the Optical Bar Camera - on the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Source: USAF


Northrop Grumman successfully flew a UTC Aerospace Optical Bar Camera (OBC) broad-area synoptic sensor on an RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS), company officials announced on 12 October.

"That was the first of five planned flights," Mick Jaggers, Northrop Grumman vice president and Global Hawk programme manager, told IHS Jane's . Two more flights this month will focus on setting the camera lens depth. A final flight around the second week of November will mimic an operational mission, he added. After all the tests are complete, Jaggers expects the Optical Bar Camera to become part of the Global Hawk programme "so that combatant commanders can task Global Hawks with camera missions".

The OBC has previously only flown on the manned Lockheed Martin U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. It was integrated onto the Global Hawk airframe via Northrop Grumman's Universal Payload Adaptor, which is fitted underneath the aircraft and is designed to offer an open interface and power bus for payloads; it has a 1,200 lb (544 kg) capacity. The OBC is a long focal length camera that provides very high resolution panoramic images from extreme altitudes. It uses wet-film magazine and has previously been identified as having a 762 mm focal length, and a 114x1,854 mm image format.

Earlier this year Northrop Grumman successfully flew another U-2 sensor - the SYERS-2 - on the RQ-4. Several non-military surveillance payloads have also been flown on the UAS. NASA has successfully integrated and flown more than 30 different information-gathering payloads, for example.

Meanwhile, the company is also planning to begin integration of the MS-177 multispectral sensor, previously flown aboard the company's legacy E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft, on the RQ-4 for the US Air Force. Initial Operating Capability for that system is expected in 2017, with a Full Operating Capability likely in 2019, Jaggers confirmed.

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[Khafee]

Optical Bar Camera

ISR Systems

The high-altitude Optical Bar Camera is the world’s highest resolution broad-area synoptic sensor. Over the last 40 years, it has provided unsurpassed panoramic imagery for the warfighter, coalition partners and unalterable imagery for the State Department.

It remains in operation due to its unique, Broad Area Coverage that provides over 135,000 nm² of actionable intelligence and mapping quality products from just a single mission. The capability has also been used in several national and international emergency relief efforts as it can provide the largest area coverage that is releasable to first responders



http://utcaerospacesystems.com/cap/products/Pages/optical-bar-camera.aspx