December 2007 | GXP in the news
BAE Systems provides intelligence software training to field analysts in Iraq and Afghanistan
Eric Bruce in a C-17 heading back to Qatar from Bagram Air Base.
BAE Systems GXP product specialists, Eric Bruce, Dennis Bryant, and Rob Stout, traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan recently to provide geospatial intelligence software training to field analysts.
The trip was part of BAE Systems formal partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) deployable systems upgrade team. In 2006, NGA purchased BAE Systems’ SOCET GXP software to support its customer, the Office of Global Support.
Rob Stout on board a C-130 in Afghanistan. Travel from site to site within Afghanistan required tactical capabilities of the C-130.
“The goal of the trip was to provide operational capability to use the tool,” said Dan London, BAE Systems vice president for Geospatial eXploitation Products. “At the same time, the information our team gathered in the field was invaluable, because seeing the product in-theater, and the issues analysts face, helps us refine the product.”
SOCET GXP is a geospatial intelligence tool that uses imagery from airborne and satellite sensors to identify ground features for improved situational awareness. Analysts in the field use maps and charts generated by SOCET GXP to perform before-and-after site comparisons and battle damage assessment, and to detect potential improvised explosive devices and ambush sites. The data can also be used to coordinate troop maneuvers, helicopter landings, and land-vehicle routes.
Dennis Bryant at former Saddam palace, Al Faw in Baghdad, now an operations center for U.S.commanders.
“The analysts were very attentive and interested in what we were talking about. Because they’re in an operational environment, they know once we leave, they are going to have to put that knowledge to use,” said Eric Bruce, one of BAE Systems product specialists deployed in the field.
As part of an overall software upgrade, SOCET GXP was installed for the first time on the rugged portable computers used by analysts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The software processes data from a variety of image sources and creates image products that can be compressed, saved in multiple formats, and shared over secure networks. Data and reports can be immediately e-mailed and accessed from mobile laptop computers, relay stations, and ground control centers.
For the complete article and related webinar, Tales from the Warfront — Warfighters Receive Onsite Geospatial Training, GeoWorld Magazine, October, 2007, please visit: