ELECTRONIC CAMERAS WITH INSTANTANEOUS GROUND READ-OUT NOW MAKE REAL-TIME, PRECISION TACTICAL TARGETING OPERATIONALLY-FEASIBLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000101020024-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: November 1, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000101020024-3
STA
AR31 CLE AFFZA QED
?AGE ARMED FORCES JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
NOVENIDER 1982
r~ectro .c Cameras" with Instantaneous (
r ~
sic v Make Real-time, Precision Tactical
SUCH
MINUTE
DETAILS of en7
Targeting Operaton~yy -Fth 'ble
ems' activity a
troop dispositions can nov
be photographed by airborne o'r
spaceborne high-resolution "elec=
ironic cameras" from long stand-off dis-
lances and relayed instantaneously to
small ground read-out stations that a
NATO commander could literally tell-
and slum-the White House when the
front road wheels of a tank leading a Rus-
sian attack into Western Europe have
crossed the East-West German border.
T he first such photo ever made public is
shown here.
It was taken three years ago by a sys-
tem similar to the new lick miniature elec-
iro-optical imaging system shown on the
right. which weighs only 26 tbs. (and
which could he reduced in the near future
using the latest manufacturing technolo-
gy). Itek produce, such electronic cam-
eras in versions weighing up to 1.600 tbs.
The film strip on this page was taken
from a 1:-mile slant range over the center
of Los Angeles and covers an area about
three miles wide by 22 miles. There is a
power station toward the lower right: in
the original film from which this half-tone
was printed. the number of wires or power
lines emanating from it are clearly visible
without further magnification, as are the
condensers on those lines. (Some of that
detail inevitably is lost in even the most
precise commercial' printing process
available. which AFJ uses.) Toward the
upper left is a football stadium and sports
field on which one can count the number
of people playing soccer. again with the
naked eye or a small magnifying glass.
Elsewhere throughout the photo. one can
distinguish between Volkswagen sedans
and Ford coupes, whether parked in a
experi-
ments in Eu=
rope to find effi-
cient ways to incorpo-
rate such information in its
targeting process. In one such
field experiment, the BDM Corpora-
tion is using off-the-shelf equipment to
bring the chip revolution into division and
corps operation centers without waiting
15 years.
The imagery is transmitted and pro-
cessed in digital form, and stored on mag-
netic tape for post-flight analysis and
comparison with earlier or subsequent
imagery. or for-correlation with data from
other sensors.
The imagery shown here is comparable
to that produced by a prototype of lick's
model 2KL "mini-E01S"-miniaturized
electro-optical imaging system. The 2KL
was designed for extended border surveil-
lance and real time tactical battle manage-
ment, and can be mounted in a small air-
craft such as the OV-10 Bronco used by
USAF forward air controllers in Europe.
driveway or moving along a freeway at 55 stantaneously transmit the imagery to Quality of the tactical imagery varies,
miles per hour. distant, mobile read-out stations (or more of course, but does not degrade signifi-
The photo printed here appeared at a sophisticated processing centers), again candy, as a function of distance or slant
ground read-out station about 100 miles without compromise to the image's reso- range, viewing angle, or light and vis-
from ay the sensor platform within lution. (One version of a mobile, ground ibilit), conditions.
thousandths ^r ' ` -~ A mft.r hrinr nrnr-cc,n,' ctntinn is chnwn nn rant i t The unicue two-dimencinnnl arrange-
.;,tan Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000101020024-3 Hryire
angle
-thus. a
most 12 hours a
day in average climes,
compared with the four
hours a day (roughly 10 a.m.
until 2 p.m.) in which conven-
tional cameras provide their high res-
olution imagery. ,
Photos like this can now be relayed in-
stantaneously to mobile ground process-
ing and control stations with no degrada-
tion in resolution (or quality of the
imagery). In fact. mobile ground process-
ing stations small enough to fit in a medi-
um size van can instantaneously "en-
hance" the digital imagery using many
different algorithms to provide even
greozer detail than what is apparent
here-making the photos brighter, lighter.
or darker: sharpening the contrast so that
edges show up better; and filtering out
smoke. haze. or smog.
An operator in the same station can
zoom the camera in for a closer look at
any particular area; focus the camera
more precisely; and cause it to roam over
other target areas. He can "freeze" por-
tions of the image and project individual
frames on separate displays for closer
scrutiny; enlarge them from two to 15
times (with no degradation in resolution
up to about 10 times magnification); and
obtain an immediate hard-copy. film
print-out of equal clarity. Using even a
commercial telephone line, he can in-