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2011-03-29 India-Pakistan

Taliban create unit to hunt down drone spies

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Posted by ryuge 2011-03-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 The squeegee men are spies. Execute them!

Posted by Zebulon Thranter9685 2011-03-29 01:17|| 2011-03-29 01:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Army To Deploy ARGUS Sensor To Afghanistan Aboard Unmanned Helo.

The Army plans to deploy a new ground urveillance sensor to Afghanistan this summer designed to identify and track people across large swaths of
land, according to officials.

The deployment of the ARGUS sensors, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is the latest advance in a growth area defense
officials refer to as wide-area surveillance. These capabilities are sought-after because, in the expanse of the Afghan hinterland, they enable
the simultaneous tracking of dozens of individuals for surveillance or targeting.

ARGUS is short for Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance. BAE Systems has manufactured a daylight-only system, first tested in 2009 aboard a Black Hawk helicopter. The company announced last September it was awarded
a $50 million follow-on contract to make an infrared, night-capable version.

Argus is a figure in Greek mythology, depicted as an all-seeing giant with 100 eyes.

Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence Lt. Gen. Richard Zahner described the sensor, which he said would see its first action on an
unmanned Boeing A160 "Hummingbird" drone, as a breakthrough technology. The system can track 96 "entities, individuals or vehicles" in separate videofeeds, he said in a March 22 interview with Inside the Army.

The system is part of a new generation of sensors capable of automatic cuingand interaction with processing systems for minimal human analyst
involvement, Zahner said. These new sensors, he added, would help steer the Army away from a "bottomless pit of requirement" for processing,
exploitation and dissemination capabilities that are traditionally needed to prepare sensor data, make sense of it and distribute it among forces.

The ARGUS sensor, for example, could be turned into a "tracking engine" by connecting it to a high-resolution video collection capability or a signals intelligence system instructing ARGUS where to train its eyes.

The sensor's breakthrough capability lies not in its ability to deliver simultaneous video feeds, but rather the promise that it can present
contextual information on individuals to the degree that the system can tell operators instantly what those individuals' "patterns of life" are, Zahner said.

"We fundamentally change the set where the sensors now work for us, as opposed to having banks of operators now slaved to a video stream, trying to extract something out," he told ITA.

Posted by Rantburg DARPA Support Team 2011-03-29 03:24|| 2011-03-29 03:24|| Front Page Top

#3 I wonder what drunkenpredator thinks about this?

Posted by newc 2011-03-29 08:36|| 2011-03-29 08:36|| Front Page Top

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