In November 2021, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) used two company-owned AVENGER® Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), each equipped with a Lockheed Martin LEGION pod, to send long-range air threat data captured passively and fused by an advanced sensor algorithm to a command centre, the company writes in a press release.
In the two-hour flight, the AVENGERs flew over the high desert of southern California. During the flight, the LEGION pod’s IRST21 detected multiple fast-moving aircraft operating in the area. On-pod Lockheed Martin fusion software blended the sensor data from both pods in real time and the AVENGERs streamed it to the ground station.
This fusion technology was previously tested in F-15-equipped LEGION pods and datalinks at the NORTHERN EDGE operational exercise. The LEGION pod is a proven long-range passive IRST sensor on multiple platforms.
JH
