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Sandia Technology logo A quarterly research and development magazine.

Fall 2006
Volume 8, No. 3

SANDIA TECHNOLOGY

Rockwell Collins logo
news notes




MiniSAR soaring with new deal

Aerospace company Rockwell Collins, an industry leader in surveillance solutions worldwide, will spend several million dollars over the next two years to turn Sandia-developed miniSAR technology into a product that can be deployed on a Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle.

Shadow 200
 
MiniSAR is a small synthetic aperture radar system that can “see” through clouds and in the dark.

Sandia Director of Industrial Communications Jerry Langheim and Rockwell Collins' Director of Business Alliances Steve Kennell are managers of the relationship. Langheim and other members of Sandia’s Defense Systems and Assessments (DS&A) Strategic Management Unit have worked with Rockwell Collins for the past three years to identify a viable market opportunity for miniSAR. Rockwell is now ready to move forward.

“The miniature SAR product is targeted for use on both manned and unmanned vehicle platforms, to provide small, persistent surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance capability to the military,” says Ron Hornish, vice president and general manager of Sensor Systems for Rockwell Collins Government Systems. Because of its compact size, the miniSAR product could free up payload space for additional communication systems and integrated products and services.

miniSAR
A newly announced agreement between Sandia and Rockwell Collins will lead to development of miniSAR (below) for use with unmanned aerial vehicles like Shadow 200 (above).
“Sandia’s strategic objectives include partnering with industry to transition advanced capabilities developed at the national labs to the end-user,” says Brett Remund, deputy director, Microwave Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. “This partnership provides a strong and complementary match to achieve these objectives, bringing advanced radar remote sensing capability to the warfighter.” “I can't overstate the importance of these kinds of strategic relationships,” says Jerry McDowell, DS&A vice president. “Sandia’s science, technology, and engineering can benefit the nation and our DoD customers through industrial alliances. We have great expectations for this alliance.”

“It takes teamwork to hand off the baton in a relay race and we believe that Sandia and Rockwell are uniquely suited to take miniSAR the distance together,” says Rockwell Collins' Kennell. “We share a vision and expect to see more from this alliance in the future,” says McDowell.

Technical Contact: Jerry Langheim (505) 284-3289, grlangh@sandia.gov
Rockwell Collins Contact: Steve Kennell (319) 295-8016, smkennel@rockwellcollins.com