The Astor system is maturing, and has proven that airborne radar ground surveillance is a crucial battlefield capability for fighting both small terrorist groups and conventional army formations, say British Army and Royal Air Force officials. But more importantly-and largely hidden from view-is a long-term, multi-service effort to pull additional advanced capabilities from the airborne sensor. That research includes networking Astor's radar products with intelligence from the Nim-rod Rl, the RAF's renowned signals and communications intelligence aircraft, and a range of new unmanned aircraft built for both reconnaissance and strike which include Predator, Reaper and Watch-keeper. It also will involve solving the knotty, long-term issue of sharing bandwidth with your allies. "[Ground moving target indicator or GMTI] will be an important mission set for our partners and us," says U.S. Vice Adm. Robert Mur- rett, director of the National Geospa-tial Intelligence Agency. "We need the overarching [networking and real-time exchange of intelligence] and we're as close to the U.K. as anyone."
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