EagleEye Drone Upgrade A Step Closer

Defence contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has announced it has moved a step closer to supplying a radar upgrade to its Gray Eagle drones.

As per a recent General Atomics press release, the first of its EagleEye multi-mode radar systems have come off its San Diego factory production line and will soon be delivered to U.S. Army units.

The upgraded radar system has been designed as both a plug-and-play enhancement for the force’s Gray Eagle Extended Range Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and an integral part of the new Gray Eagle 25M; the Army National Guard has already ordered a dozen of the new specification drones.

As per a GA press release, the radar system "delivers high-resolution, photographic-quality imagery that can be captured through clouds, rain, dust, smoke, and fog at multiple times the range of previous radars."

“The EagleEye radar has improved range and multi-mode performance, which is tailored to the deep sensing capability required for Multi-Domain Operations (MDO),” said Jeff Hettick, GA-ASI vice president of Agile Mission Systems. “We look forward to delivering the EagleEye to our U.S. Army customer in the near future.”

The firm's website states that its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) means EagleEye users can see in atmospheric conditions that might obscure a purely visual sensor; it delivers Full-Motion Video (FMV) capability which enables live visual tracking of moving targets, even during heavy cloud cover.

The EagleEye upgrade offers a range five times greater than that of previous sensors; it also performs Moving Target Indication (MTI) and features improved target detection range using real-time Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) software that runs on board the aircraft. It also offers a Maritime Wide Area Search (MWAS) mode for tracking and targeting vessels.

You can read more details on the GA website