The Lockheed Martin-CERDEC team will develop new sensors, but Elton
Schroeder, vice president of Lockheed Martin's C4ISR division, said
it will look to leverage the capabilities of some of the older systems
as well. Don't scrap the Cold War-era sensors just yet, he warned.
Algorithms can be changed to suit the new mission, he said.
For example, the 1970s era firefinder radar--intended to locate
enemy mortars--mutes a lot of data to reduce false alarm rates. Users
didn't want to mistake a flock of birds for incoming fire, for
example. That system has buried data that can be "exposed" to
look for small, unmanned aerial vehicles, he said.
"It's about using traditional sensors in nontraditional
ways," he added.
EMAIL COMMENTS TO SMAGNUSON@NDIA.ORG
COPYRIGHT 2008 National Defense Industrial
Association Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.