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USAF names new sensor "Gorgon Stare"

My philosophy is simple: If you're going to spend a couple hundred million of taxpayer dollars to buy something, at least give it a cool name.

I'm sorry, but the "wide area airborne surveillance" (WAAS) sensor did not cut it. The Sierra Nevada pod is expected to revolutionize the surveillance mission when it arrives in Iraq in 2010 as a pod on the MQ-9 Reaper (also a cool name), but the name was terrible.

Pronouncing "WAAS" makes the speaker sound like the screaming baby that always sits behind you on a transatlantic flight.

So it was a relief this morning when I was informed by Brig Gen Blair Hansen that WAAS now has a nickname -- the aforementioned "Gorgon Stare".

You can Google the term to understand the reference, or click on this link, but here's a graphical hint.

medusa3.jpg

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