BAE Systems said in a statement it had "delivered five target detection systems to the U.S. Army for use on Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles -- UAV. The Aurora Generation IV remote sensing system will provide U.S. forces with precise detection and identification of potential threats, increasing mission capability and survivability."

"Aurora is an ultra-lightweight, compact, wide-area surveillance system. It combines daytime hyper-spectral imaging technology, featuring high-resolution electro-optic sensors, with an airborne processing system to automatically detect and identify targets," the company said.

"Aurora is the first system that puts hyper-spectral technology in operational use for U.S. forces," said John Antoniades, director of remote sensing technologies for BAE Systems. "This is important because the combination of hyper-spectral and electro-optic technology offers an objective tool to detect and identify targets, relieving the stress on operators who are constantly watching video imagery."

"The system is designed to meet tactical needs of unmanned aircraft with highly efficient on-board processing that minimizes bandwidth requirements. Aurora has a real-time processing capability to search for targets and immediately down-link location results to ground operators for rapid delivery into intelligence databases," BAE Systems said.

"The Aurora Generation IV system can be used on a wide range of low- and medium-altitude manned or unmanned vehicles that can accommodate payloads as low as 35 pounds," the company said.

"BAE Systems descries itself as "the premier global defense and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 96,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded $27 billion in 2006."