LINKOPING, Sweden, May 9 (UPI) -- Saab reports it has enhanced the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of its Skeldar unmanned aerial vehicle through product integration.
Integrated into the system is the company's Multi-Sensor Intelligence Cell, a flexible ground-based system to collect, process, analyze and report intelligence data.
Saab said combining Skeldar and MSIC gives users a tool that can close the "ISR loop" by delivering real-time sensor analysis for the mission commander to evaluate. Also, MSIC gives operators a 'sensor-to-shooter' capability by providing targeting coordinates from the sensor data.
"The MSIC has always been able to handle data from multiple ISR sources by acting as a stand-alone intelligence center," said Bjorn Klerestam, MSIC Product Manager at Saab. "Now we also have a system that enables us to scale-up the functionality of MSIC into a more integrated part of the ground control station of a UAS system like Skeldar."
MSIC has been in service with the Swedish military since 2005 and has been used for Swedish UAV operations in Afghanistan and for Gripen fighter reconnaissance missions.
Skeldar is a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle with an endurance of five hours, a range of 93 miles and a speed of nearly 81 miles per hour. Its service ceiling is more than 14,000 feet.
The system was operationally deployed last year by a Spanish Navy vessel.
