Intelligence: The All Seeing HawkEye
August 28, 2020: Iranian efforts to export oil in spite of sanctions have often been successful. That changed in 2020 when HawkEye 360, a new ship tracking service made it much more difficult for ships to conceal their smuggling activities. Since 2015 a growing array of sensors and software to track ships at sea, especially ships that don’t want to be tracked, have been developed. One of these new sensors appeared in 2019 when HawkEye 360 launched its own array of radar tracking satellites. This enables tracking ships via the signals their navigation radars produce. These can be spotted by a satellite. Other electronic signals can also be tracked, like those used by large ships to communicate with the port they are headed for to unload their cargo.
Iran and North Korea are two nations that have the most tankers and cargo ships that regularly avoid being tracked. Many other ships belong to smugglers who also seek to move without being tracked and sometimes work for Iran, North Korea or anyone else requiring their service. HawkEye 360 customers include shipping companies, maritime police, managers of major ports and coast guards. Shipping companies want additional ways to track their ships while coast guards now have an affordable and powerful tool to monitor their offshore waters for smugglers and poachers.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20200828.aspx
