HawkEye 360 will apply its RF geospatial intelligence capabilities to an AFRL programme for hybrid space ISR. (Image: HawkEye 360)
HawkEye 360 has won its first direct contract from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in the form of a three-year Experimental Purpose Agreement (EPA).
The $15.5 million deal, announced on 11 January, will see Virginia-based HawkEye 360 provide RF analytics research, development and experiments to help the USAF demonstrate, test and evaluate a hybrid space ISR architecture.
HawkEye 360 will support a variety of operational use cases by providing embedded personnel support, data collection, tools for data ingestion, analytics and other services. The EPA includes participation in military exercises such as RIMPAC ‘to introduce new capabilities to the warfighter and identify ways to improve and integrate into operational workflows’, the company noted in a statement.
AFRL technical programme manager Charlene Jacka said that working with HawkEye ‘can supplement and strengthen our hybrid satellite ISR architecture’ while also helping to develop ‘new tactics, techniques and procedures ‘.
Shephard reported in December 2021 that HawkEye 360 aims to launch three additional clusters of its HawkEye satellite this year. Its long-term goal is to operate a 20-cluster HawkEye constellation.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (JCREW) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) and Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) counter-UAS (CUAS) systems are mounted and dismounted RF jammers.
Adarga’s Vantage information analysis tool is in service with the UK MoD and individual UK forces. It builds on the company’s Knowledge Platform which processes, organises and analyses open source material, as well as information held by the user’s military, security and intelligence services.
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