(NSI News Source Info) December 11, 2008: U.S. Army Apache pilots can view video in real time from nearby UAVs, thanks to VUIT-2 (Video from UAS for Interoperability Teaming Level II), a new Lockheed Martin datalink that connects helicopter cockpits with ground terminals, service officials said at the 2008 Unmanned Aerial Systems Symposium in Arlington, Va.
"I think this is an evolutionary step in the war fighting capability. The concept of VUIT-2 integrates with the OSRVT [One System Remote Video Terminal], so whatever that system can see, the Apache can now see inside the cockpit. The range we have now is 40-plus kilometers," said Lt. Col. Robert Johnston, project manager for Longbow Apaches. "Now with UAVs giving us constant situational awareness, we can own the day and night and not even be at the site where the enemies are. So guys are never going to know when they are going to get attacked."
A AH-64D equipped with VUIT-2 flies over Fort Rucker, Ala. UAS video is displayed in the cockpit on the Apache Longbow’s Multi-Purpose Display, and Apache Longbow sensor video can be transmitted to Soldiers on the ground
VUIT-2 also allows ground controllers to see imagery from the Apache's sensors, including the high-resolution infrared targeting sensor called Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight (MTADS).
"The field likes the ability to have the MTADS video sent back to the TOC," or Tactical Operations Center, Johnston said. "Instead of an Apache trying to describe to a ground commander what he sees on the ground, he just shoots a picture of full motion video of what is going on. So you don't have to spend five or ten minutes getting a full situational brief."
Army officers say the VUIT-2 is already making a difference.
"It allows the person on the ground to receive a video feed from the gun camera and see what the Apache crew is seeing," said Maj. Hilton Nunez, aviation director.
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