Raytheon Company’s Space and Airborne Systems was recently awarded an $8 million cost plus fixed fee contract to design and demonstrate the world’s first Synthetic Aperture LADAR (Laser Radar) Tactical Imager (SALTI).
SALTI will provide the first airborne optical synthetic imagery capability to the warfighter. It will provide improved clarity of electro-optic wavelengths for imaging targets and will not suffer from the normal glint returns associated with common X-band synthetic aperture radar.
SALTI promises to provide essential standoff and target identification to manned and unmanned airborne platforms with unprecedented resolution.
The contract was awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Advanced Technology Office with the Air Force Research Laboratory serving as technical and program execution agent.
Contract work will be performed at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems facilities in El Segundo, Calif.; Tucson, Ariz; and Texas. Upon completion, Raytheon will deliver the SALTI system to DARPA’s Advanced Technology Office.
