TESAR UAV Recce SAR Payload

The Northrop Grumman TESAR synthetic aperture radar which provides all-weather surveillance capability has a maximum resolution of 0.3 m’ (1ft.) Other payload options, which can be selected to meet mission requirements, include a laser designator and rangefinder, electronic support and countermeasures and a moving target indicator (MTI). TESAR provides strip-mapping continuous variable-resolution imagery from 1 meter to 0.3 meter (1 foot). The imagery is processed on-board the aircraft, compressed and sent to ground control station where it is scrolled over the SAR display workstation and saved for later use. As the imagery scrolls by, the operator has the ability to select 1,000 by 1,000 pixel image patches for exploitation on another workstation. TESAR was first deployed on the US Air Force Predator UAV and later, on the Army Gnat – both produced by General Atomics.