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The Evolving Defense Market, According to Embraer
Most countries suffer from tough defense budget constraints and many are looking at cheaper ways to acquire airborne intelligence, according to Anastacio Katsanos, Embraer’s Defense Programs chief. “Armed services are trying to gain higher mobility and flexibility through multiforce integration and faster command cycles, and our surveillance- and reconnaissance-based ERJ-145s are achieving this,” he noted.
“Information superiority is key,” said Katsanos, “and shorter reaction times and shorter sensor-to-shooter cycles are critical. The network-centric approach, rather than platform-centric, is the preferred way. ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition & Reconnaissance), backed up by the expansion of advanced communication and network based systems, is the way forward.”
Katsanos said that Embraer’s U.S. Army and U.S. Navy Aerial Common Sensor aircraft (based on Embraer’s ERJ-145 regional jet airframe) will be the first to achieve Level 5 of UAV control via the ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) platform. “In Level 5 you can reprogram the route of the UAV while it’s airborne,” he explained. “We are planning to build that capability into all our ISR platforms. In the future we see these platforms being used as motherships to UAVs.”
New sensor technology and integration advances have lead to Embraer’s multisensor approach with its ERJ-145-based R-99A and R-99B SIVAM aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force, which cut acquisition cost and allowed the use of these relatively small airframes. Higher computing and processing power is also cutting down on the number of operators in the cabin, Katsanos noted. —Mike Vines
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