U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman contract provides SCORPION deployment
OtherApril 16, 2012
Alice Moss
Military Embedded Systems
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Army recently penned a five-year contract for Northrop Grumman’s SCORPION and SCORPION II Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) persistent surveillance systems. Though the dollar amount of the contract is unspecified on the company’s website, undoubtedly the autonomously gathered actionable intelligence and remote persistent surveillance data will prove both viable and valuable to U.S. Forces and their allies.
Already used in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other locales around the globe, SCORPION’s main missions include remote area monitoring, situational awareness, and perimeter security.
SCORPION II’s next-gen autonomous technology encompasses magnetic, seismic, and/or passive IR sensors to recognize potential threats through the use of point-blank-range or short-range day or thermal cameras. The ruggedized SCORPION II sensor can identify targets at up to 800 meters, includes embedded GPS capability, and forms a Common Operational Picture (COP) of data derived from myriad sensor systems. Sensor data and imagery can additionally be transmitted to worldwide users.
And, finally, the sensor includes low power consumption and optimal battery lifespans: Missions that are six months or longer in duration won’t require a battery change.
