Story ID: 
Rafael’s recon sensors are a hit
By: David Donald
Caption: Systems house Rafael produces a wide portfolio of sophisticated products, but here at the Farnborough airshow it is expecting significant interest in its r
Word Count: 277
Systems house Rafael produces a wide portfolio of sophisticated products, but here at the Farnborough airshow it is expecting significant interest in its reconnaissance sensors. At the top of the line is the RecceLite system, a derivative of the proven Litening targeting pod. RecceLite uses the same pod and infrastructure as the Litening, but is optimized for a variety of reconnaissance tasks from low, medium and high altitudes.RecceLite is a self-contained podded system that collects infrared and visual/near IR imagery simultaneously, and offers horizon- to-horizon coverage. An integral datalink provides real-time transmission to ground stations, and there is an optional extended-range link and streaming video capability. The system is in widespread use, including seeing service with four European nations (Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) and is in regular use over Afghanistan.Developed from RecceLite is the Recce-U, which is currently undergoing evaluation. This is essentially the same system, but tailored to slower aircraft and UAVs. Consequently, it is packaged in a much shorter pod as the cooling requirements are significantly reduced compared with fast-jet carriage.Ground exploitation of reconnaissance imagery is provided by Rafael’s new ImiLite system, which can integrate data from a range of surveillance and intelligence sources into a variety of imagery intelligence products and reports. ImiLite is not just tailored to work with sensor sources, such as RecceLite, but can work with any inputs, including those from synthetic-aperture radars and electronic intelligence systems.Rafael continues to develop its reconnaissance and targeting capabilities, seeking to ultimately bring the two together into a single system that maintains the high performance parameters of the current discrete systems, without imposing additional weight and cost burdens.