Israeli firm develops state-of-the-art aerial surveillance covering 10 miles

An Israeli defence firm has heralded a new era of aerial surveillance using technology that lets a drone’s roving eye cover a far wider area.

Until now, cameras embedded in aerial vehicles have had a reasonably narrow target view, which analysts have likened to a drinking straw, but Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) said its new WASP system uses AI algorithms to detect and identify movement, allowing coverage of up to ten miles.

Promising “persistent surveillance capabilities day and night” through electro-optical (EO) and infra-red (IR) systems, it said WASP could be fitted to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), manned aircraft, and surveillance balloons.

The company said WASP was designed to “track, identify and alert the system operator of moving targets that correlate with mission requirements and objectives”.