美国陆军官员已与通用原子公司达成协议，升级其MQ-1C“灰鹰”无人机系统（UAS）的电子情报（ELINT）能力。
通用原子公司在4月15日的声明中表示，该升级协议将支持MQ-1C的远程感测需求，使其能够作为陆军一体化防空系统（IADS）的有力支持。一旦该升级版ELINT传感器平台完全集成到MQ-1C机群的远程（ER）型号中，将使陆军无人机能够在威胁范围之外运行，同时深入观察战场。公司表示，这将实现先进的人机协同，提高陆军有人驾驶飞机的生存率。
除了支持陆军领导的IADS行动外，升级后的传感器还将帮助“灰鹰”在更远距离探测敌方的一体化防空系统。公司补充道，该传感器能够对影响联合部队行动的关键威胁进行探测和地理定位。为此，“灰鹰”ER在陆军“项目汇聚”倡议的最新演习中发挥了突出作用。
在“项目汇聚-第五阶段封顶演习”（PCC-5）期间，“灰鹰”ER变体在电子对抗环境下执行了持久的探测、识别、定位和报告（DILR）任务。它同时向机动部队提供网状网络空中分层支持，并将可能受地形阻碍或超出范围的士兵与发射效应器连接起来。
An MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS at Camp Taji, Iraq, before a surveillance mission in the Baghdad area. (US Army)
US Army officials have reached a deal with General Atomics to upgrade the electronic intelligence (ELINT) capabilities for the service's fleet of MQ-1C Grey Eagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The ELINT upgrade deal, announced on 15 April, will support long-range UAS sensing requirements for the MQ-1C as an enabler to the army's Integrated Air Defense System (IADS), General Atomics said in a 15 April statement.
Once fully integrated into the extended range (ER) variants of the MQ-1C fleet, the upgraded ELINT sensor platform is to enable army UAS “to operate outside threat ranges while looking deeply into the battlespace and enables advanced manned-unmanned teaming to increase survivability for crewed Army aircraft”, the company said.
Aside from supporting army-led IADS operations, the upgraded ELINT sensor is help Grey Eagle UAS detect “adversary IADS” at further ranges, the company noted.
The upgraded ELINT sensor enables detection and geo-location of “critical threats [against] joint force operations,” they added. To that end, the Gray Eagle ER played a prominent role in the most recent capstone exercise of the army's Project Convergence initiative.
During Project Convergence - Capstone 5 (PCC-5), Grey Eagle ER variants “performed persistent Detect, Identify, Locate, and Report (DILR) missions in an electronically contested environment, simultaneously providing mesh network aerial tier support to maneuver units and connecting the soldiers and launched effects that might otherwise be obstructed by terrain or be out of range”, according to the 15 April statement.
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