ROME, N.Y., 15 Sept. 2005. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded two contracts, with a combined value in excess of $5 million, for research to improve engagement of moving ground targets on the battlefield.
BAE Systems Advanced Information of Burlington, Mass., was awarded a $3.27 million contract: "All-Source Track and Identify Fuser (ATIF) for DDT Fusion."
And Lockheed Martin Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas was awarded a $2.02 million contract, "DTT Target Motion Prediction."
The two-year contracts are funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of Arlington, Va., in support of its Dynamic Tactical Targeting (DTT) program.
"BAE researchers will be developing a fusion algorithm that will utilize multiple data sources to actually detect, track and identify various moving ground targets and provide that information to the commander," said David D. Ferris Jr., program manager with the AFRL Information Directorate.
"Lockheed Martin engineers will focus on developing approaches to predict where a target is likely to go, so that you know where to start looking for it with a variety of sensors."
DARPA's Information Exploitation Office is sponsoring research under the DTT program. DTT is intended to support tactical combat by detecting, identifying, and tracking mobile ground targets. DTT will provide key enabling technologies to maintain wide area coverage while locating and identifying regions / targets of interest, and to maintain track of critical targets for extended periods.
For more information, see www.alphatech.com or www.lockheedmartin.com.
