France's DGA procurement agency has awarded Sagem a new contract to enhance the capabilities of the nation's army fleet of Sperwer tactical unmanned air vehicles.
The award comprises a batch of three Mk II UAVs equipped with Sagem's Euroflir 350+ electro-optical/infrared sensor payload, plus an option to acquire another five air vehicles.
Also included is an agreement to provide new remote video terminals and to modernise previous examples of these that were ordered in 2009. The vehicle-mounted or portable displays are used to show high-resolution imagery downlinked from the UAV in real-time against a digital map, the company says.
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© JC Moreau/Sagem |
The French army has operated Sperwer UAVs in Afghanistan since early 2008, using the type for intelligence-gathering, route reconnaissance and artillery targeting tasks.