Army to evaluate Israeli-designed vehicle-mount sensors suite to detect and pinpoint IEDs
FORT BELVOIR, Va., 14 April 2016. U.S. Army explosives-disposal experts will evaluate an Israeli-designed military vehicle-mounted integrated suite of sensors to detect and pinpoint mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that are buried or concealed on the surface of roadways.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Fort Belvoir, Va., announced plans Wednesday to evaluate the Counter IED And Mine Suite Above-Surface Detection System (CIMS ADS) from the Elta Systems group of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) in Ashdod, Israel.
The Elta CIMS is a vehicle-mounted sensor system designed to protect tactical maneuvering military vehicles. CIMS detects surface and underground IEDs, mines, and roadside bombs. It has two subsystems because no one sensor can provide the necessary probability of detection and low false-alarm rate, Elta officials say.
The two CIMS sensor subsystems are the Above-surface Detection System (ADS), and Underground Mine And IED Detection System (MIDS). Army experts are most interested in the ADS, which has a side-looking synthetic aperture radar (SAR), high-resolution optical detection system, and an infrared multispectral investigation system.
The MIDS component of the CIMS vehicle-mount explosives-detection system has a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and a magnetic detector. CIMS can be adapted to any combat tactical vehicle, Elta officials say.
Elta engineers integrated the CIMS sensor suite through a central processing and management system to map the presence of IEDs and land mines in real time for warfighters operating on the forward edge of the battlefield.
Army experts say they plan to evaluate the explosive hazard data-collection capabilities of the CIMS ADS. Elta experts will provide software modifications, mount the CIMS ADS on an Army test vehicle, and analyze data. Tests will be at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.
For questions or concerns contact the Army's Elizabeth Bray by email at [email protected], or by phone at5 703-704-0829.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/2cb4ea365826abb7ae1f237a21b451db.
For additional information contact IAI Elta online at www.iai.co.il/17887-en/Groups_ELTA, or the Army Contracting Command at www.acc.army.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
