A Survey of the Development of Airborne Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance System

With the profound changes in the form of warfare, full-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance have become key point in combat operations. In response to the time and space problems encountered by traditional reconnaissance methods, the Airborne Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance System (AWAPSS) came into being, which can support a larger range of real-time surveillance, with a combination advantage of wide imaging and ultra-high resolution. Since 2005, the western countries, represented by the USA, has vigorously developed the AWAPSS and iteratively updated it. It has been put into actual combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions, providing comprehensive, fast and accurate all-weather intelligence information for modern operations. China is extremely lacking in AWAPSS technology and equipment, and is urgent to develop an independent system to meet requirements of three aspects, including high-resolution, wide coverage and persistent surveillance.