We Now Know Exactly What Sensors the Army's Powerful New RO-6A Spy Planes Will Carry
A recent contracting notice includes a detailed breakdown of the various cameras, radars, and signals intelligence gear that will go into the planes.
By Joseph TrevithickFebruary 20, 2018
In its latest budget request for the 2019 fiscal year, the U.S. Army is asking for more than $80 million to keep working on converting a number of de Havilland Dash-8-315 planes into RO-6A intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance aircraft. Thanks to a separate contracting announcement, we know they will each have a powerful combination of electro-optical, infrared, and hyperspectral cameras, wide-area surveillance systems, imaging radars, and signals intelligence gear when they start to enter service in 2020.
On Feb. 5, 2018, the Army released a request for information regarding a potential contract to support the service’s existing fleet of de Havilland Dash-7-based EO-5C aircraft, as well as perform maintenance and other functions on the future RO-6As. As such, the documentation includes a breakdown of the specific systems on both types of aircraft to help prospective vendors gauge whether they have the requisite knowledge base to keep them airworthy and fully mission capable.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18619/we-now-know-exactly-what-sensors-the-armys-powerful-new-ro-6a-spy-planes-will-carry
