AMERICAN and Filipino forces will be testing the capability for intelligence work and disaster relief operations of the US Air Force’s Eagle Vision satellite, according to a news release posted on Jan. 12 in the website of the Pacific Air Forces.
US Air Force and Army personnel will operate and share the mobile and ground-based satellite from Jan. 16 to 25 at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga.
“The exchanges will center on the capability produced by the US Air Force’s deployable ground-based satellite imagery system known as Eagle Vision,” the website said.
“The system provides real-time mission critical imagery acquired from commercially available satellites and is a key enabler to the US Pacific Command’s Foreign Humanitarian Assistance response.
“The exchanges will promote increased interoperability between US and Filipino forces and continue to strengthen the military relationship between the two longtime allies.”
The introduction of the technology comes at a time of saber-rattling between the US-led western coalition and China as the latter bullies its small neighbors by grabbing territories in the disputed South China Sea and threatening to shut down the $5- trillion sea lane.
The introduction of the technology to the AFP also comes at a time when the US military has been deploying its modern bombers in Australia, Hawaii and Japan.
The world”•especially China, Russia and North Korea”•is watching incoming US President Donald Trump.
“Eagle Vision is a commercial, off-the-shelf deployable ground station designed to process imagery from commercial satellites for intelligence preparation for mission planning and rehearsal, predictive battle space awareness and battle damage assessment,” the website said.
“The fourth-generation system supports users during natural disaster relief operations and homeland defense preparations.”
The US military has been using the technology since 1994 with stations at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, San Diego Air National Guard Station in California, McEntire Joint National Guard Base in South Carolina, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, and Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
“The technology is sponsored by the US Air Force ISR innovations office and the program management office at Hanscom Air Force Base. Work under the contract is scheduled to run until 2019,” the website said.
