The unmanned helicopter being developed as an airborne sensor platform for the Navy and Army also will function as part of a network "designed to give commanders great flexibility in using real-time imagery for tactical advantage. Mike Fuqua, Northrop Grumman's business and strategy manager for the RQ-8 Fire Scout vertical-takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV), said one of the improvements planned for the helicopter is the Advanced Information Architecture (ALA), an airborne, Internet-style communications network that will allow tactical users to download imagery of a target directly and redirect sensors to obtain updated imagery from any surveillance platform linked to it. AIA stores imagery in high-capacity computer servers, one of which would be fitted to the Fire Scout.
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