Aerial Reconnaissance At present, both the Air Force and the Navy/Marine Corps rely on the old film reconnaissance system, which requires the plane to return to the base in order to photocopy and develop film negatives. This process is time-consuming and laborious, which greatly reduces the intelligence value of the photos, because several hours have passed when the photos reach the users, and by that time, the situation on the ground has changed, which is different from that shown in the photos. In order to improve the ability to cope with the ever-changing battlefield reconnaissance, both services propose to develop electronic video systems, whose images can be transmitted to the receiving station during the flight, so that the aircraft does not have to return and land at the airport near the processing center.

Since the mid-1980s, both services have developed Tactical Aerial Reconnaissance System (TARS) according to their own policies. 1In March 1985, the Air Force and the Navy signed a memorandum, designating the Air Force to lead the development of ATARS sensors, and the Navy to be responsible for the development of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft (UAV). The air force issued a formal request for tender (RFP) for ATARS development.

Naval unmanned reconnaissance aircraft can carry out effective reconnaissance and intelligence support. It can make use of its characteristics of long battery life, high flying altitude and being difficult to be discovered and attacked by the other side, and conduct real-time and long-term reconnaissance and monitoring of hot spots at sea.

The development of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft (UAV) with high survivability has aroused people's interest, and in 1988, the Ministry of National Defense was instructed to set up a joint planning office to supervise this work, and the development plan of medium-range (350 nautical miles) unmanned reconnaissance aircraft used by the navy was included. It used to be called JSCAMPS, but now it's called medium-range unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

Navy will use single-seat F-A- 18c (RC) instead of F- 14 pod system with tactical aerial reconnaissance equipment (ATARS), while Marine Corps will use two-seat F/A- 18d (RC) instead of the old RF-4B retired by Marine Corps 1990. In the layout structure of F-A- 18D (RC), the operator of the main system is arranged to observe the image at the rear base, and the pilot can also observe the ATARS image.

Other potential applications of ATARS radar system include: Teledyne Ryan BQM 145A unmanned medium-range reconnaissance aircraft (UAV-MR) as a supplement to the requirements of unmanned aerial reconnaissance system (UARS). Unmanned medium-range reconnaissance aircraft can take off from the ground or be ejected by main battle aircraft in the air; It is very similar to the F/A- 18F Super Hornet, with high-speed and low-altitude combat performance and a combat radius of 350 nautical miles. The unmanned medium-range reconnaissance plane is also planned to be equipped with an independent inertial navigation system and a navigation satellite GPS receiver.

Image processing requirements of JSIPS controlling ATARS. Ground systems can be transferred with tactical ground forces. According to the original configuration, JSIPS consists of six airborne devices, which can be modified to meet the requirements of a single service. JSIPS uses a series of earthquake-resistant computers for image processing, including digital VAX 8350 and micro VAX computer. According to the manufacturer's report, the system has a large storage capacity of 47 gigabits, and can process downlink TV images at a speed of 265,438+0 billion pixels per minute. The main contractor of JSIPS is Garland Branch of E-Systems. The USMC Tactical Extended Brigade (TEG) is a mobile image ground station, which has the functions of receiving, processing, storing, utilizing and transmitting the photoelectric and infrared images of the maritime F-A- 18RCC Advanced Tactical Aerial Reconnaissance System (ATARS). It also has the function of processing the images of Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2 (ASARS of U-2 aircraft) and APG-73 (ARATS upgraded radar [[RUG]].

The Tactical Extended Brigade (TEG) will be deployed with the commander of Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) to provide all-round images for the formulation of operational plans. It will provide commanders and subordinate commanders with the following information:

Provide positioning images for tactical operations;

Provide reference images for surprise attack planning and well-planned target attack;

Detecting and locating temporary targets;

Provide battle damage estimation (BDA) for planning and intelligence evaluation of re-assault.

The tactical expansion brigade will send the image information obtained through the Trojan Spirit II to the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) AS, where it will be merged with other related information.

The tactical expansion brigade is equipped with six external workstations, and image analysts analyze images by using selected image target areas (SITAs) with geographical positioning and measurement functions. Using the image usage support system (IESS) window on the workstation, the image analyst can generate a support report for the selected image target area, and then send this information and any supplementary images to the relevant places through the image processing laboratory (IPL) and the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF). In addition, this information can also be returned to the Marine Corps Image Support Force (MCISU) to modify the archives of the war zone in time.

The tactical expansion brigade will support two F/A- 18RC squadrons (with four planes/squadrons), and its functions include geographic positioning, image information display, hard copy (printing words and images), hard copy operation and image quality inspection. The information medium is received by ANSI ID- 1 magnetic tape and 8 mm magnetic tape. Information channels include "AUTODIN" and SLPRNEX. Image input devices include ATARS tapes, CD-ROMs, supplementary images, scanners and videos of hand-held cameras, which enable images to be transmitted in NITF format through Trojan Spirit II dedicated lines, tactical communication lines, public telephone network (PSIN) or Ethernet. It is feasible to realize voice communication through public telephone network, Internet automatic voice communication (AUTOVON) or tactical communication network.

The Tactical Extended Brigade is installed on a highly mobile multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) and will support each Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) to make full use of tactical images.

The air force and navy models of ATARS equipment have been improved, including a secret requirement project called EO LOROPS.

The navy's F/A- 18 also has the performance of APG-65/73 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode and long-distance optical/electrical sensor.

Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System (TARS) is an improved name of ATARS, which will be purchased by the Air Force and deployed in the Air National Guard. TARS will add an electronic/optical framing camera for forward reconnaissance of basic ATARS.