Rafael Displays New IO/ER Sensor for ISTAR Operations

Israeli company Rafael has displayed "MicroLite" airborne EO/IR system for small aircraft such as drones to perform Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations at Singapore Airshow (February 11-16).

The lightweight, EO/IR sensor for airborne Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance missions was displayed on the Aeronautics Orbiter-4 UAV at RAFAEL’s booth. The system is scheduled begin flight tests on the drone soon.

MicroLite joins RAFAEL’s family of advanced aerial electro-optical systems that includes the Litening advanced targeting pod, RecceLite real-time Digital ISR pod, the Toplite EO/IR System, and more. It can be fitted on small aerial platforms such as UAVs, manned aircraft, aerostats and observation balloons.

By simultaneous scanning with a high-resolution MWIR and Visual HD color sensors, MicroLite enables 24/7 Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance. In addition, MicroLite may be equipped with a LASER designator for sensor-to-shooter loop closure.

MicroLite applies a gimballed-turret design, which enables horizon-to-horizon field of regard. The system also includes an onboard data processing and storage unit for real-time advanced image processing. An advanced suite of cyber defenses is applied.

By continuously monitoring a large area, MicroLite creates a wide footprint, by which the entire area is continuously revisited at a very high rate, enabling simultaneous high-resolution tracking and investigation of multiple targets, including small targets. All video products and analytics are geographically anchored and simultaneously disseminated to multiple clients, the company said.