Philip Smart | Adelaide
The Royal Australian Air Force has streamed full motion live video from a Heron Unmanned Aircraft System airborne over Woomera in South Australia, to the cargo bay of a specially-fitted C-17A Globemaster airlifter 2000km away at Fairbairn in Canberra.
The live stream from the Heron was being relayed in real-time via satellite to Distributed Ground Station Australia (Interim) located at RAAF Edinburgh for RAAF Air Intelligence Analysts to perform the processing, exploitation and dissemination of the live video via the defence computer network.
The suite onboard the C-17A can be used in flight, and provides a significant increase to the utility of the airlifter by increasing the information available to passengers and crew.
“The networks and systems demonstrated in Canberra today allow passengers in the aircraft to receive live updates and video of their destination, such as enemy positions or disaster damaged areas, right up to the point of insertion,” said Group Captain Chipman, Director of Plan Jericho.
“The systems may also provide utility in supporting other kinds of operations such as Aeromedical Evacuations by giving medical staff on board the ability to video conference with specialists on the ground.”
The “Jericho Dawn” demonstration to senior Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in Canberra was an outcome of Plan Jericho, the plan to transform Air Force and the wider ADF into a fighting force that capitalises on the high technology systems that are being introduced over the next few years.