Raytheon announced Wednesday that it is upgrading the target location accuracy and high-definition imaging of its Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems. “This is an important upgrade for our Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems family of sensors as we continue to provide high-performance, state-of-the-art technology for the warfighter,” said Tim Carey, Raytheon’s vice president for intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance systems. MTS is a turreted or forward-looking pod that contains an electro-optical and infrared full-motion video camera system enabling long-range surveillance and high-altitude acquisition, tracking, and laser designation. The upgrades will allow for more accurate targeting, the company said. A host of platforms including Air Force MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft and C-130-based special-mission aircraft carry MTS, which surpassed one million operational flight hours in August, according to the company.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
