The US Naval Air Warfare Command (NAVAIR) has awarded a modification contract to Logos Technologies to provide Kestrel wide-area persistent surveillance systems.
Under the $111.8m deal, a follow-on to previous awarded contract, Logos will deliver 20 Kestrel systems along with two other units for testing and upgrading, as well as spares to provide increased protection and ISR support for forward deployed units.
Logos Technologies CEO Greg Poe said: "Since the first units were deployed in Afghanistan, Kestrel has saved the lives of countless warfighters by preventing IED attacks and providing our forces with greater situational awareness.
"This new contract will extend that protection to more bases, and ultimately, more troops."
As part of the deal, Logos will also provide operational, logistical and analytical support on Kestrel systems through 2013.
Capable of scanning a city-sized area, the Kestrel 360°, motion-imagery system covers an area consistent with airborne platforms during day and night.
The new electro-optical/infrared Kestrel has been installed on persistent threat detection system aerostats as a payload to provide continuous coverage of a forward operating base and its surroundings for the sensor operators.
It features multiple viewer windows, watch-box trigger alerts, digital zoom and sensor cross-cueing to track and locate multiple targets in medium-resolution for up to 30 days, while enabling operators to uncover a whole enemy network.
In addition to being used as both the persistent threat detection system and persistence ground surveillance system in Afghanistan for US Army, Kestrel system supports border patrol, counter-trafficking and other homeland security missions.
US NAVAIR received its first two day/night Kestrel wide-area persistent surveillance systems from Logos Technologies for installation on tethered blimps in Afghanistan in August 2011.
