The other day I came across a very interesting little deal about France’s involvement in Mali. That they are contracting the services of CAE Aviation to perform ISR ‘to monitor parts of north Mali and western Niger’.
Why this is significant is that the west is having a heck of a time trying to figure out what to do in Mali. No one wants to put boots on the ground (or air) because of the politics of such a move.
Meanwhile, the jihadists have control of the north and are ruling with an iron fist. They are also pouring into the country from other places in the Sahel to get ready for the coming military intervention by the west and it’s African partners. Whatever force goes in will not have it easy, and the jihadists will have had plenty of time to prepare the battlefield and plant IED’s all over the place.
So what do you do if you are not willing to ‘send in the troops’? Well France seems to have answered that question with the use of CAE. If the company has any comments about the services they are providing to France, I will add it below. Until then, here is a run down of the type of services they offer. –Matt
CAE-AVIATION – Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Services
CAE-AVIATION is the European leader in intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance services (ISR). We provide a full turnkey air-to-ground surveillance and reconnaissance (AGSR) service at short notice for governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Our fully integrated ISR detection, observation, command and control systems gives to the local military, police or disaster relief commander “an eye in the sky” enabling him to use his strength and assets to maximum effect.
Selected by NATO, EU forces and many European ministries of defence and interior, CAE-AVIATION air-to-ground surveillance and reconnaissance AGSR services are maximizing intelligence collection while minimizing operational costs.
Image intelligence
CAE AVIATION supplies an autonomous intelligence capacity of image origin with highly qualified interpreters and analysts to provide the tasker with full reporting i.a.w NATO ATP-47a standard as well as geo-referencing and a complete IMINT database creation. “ISARD” and “CAE-Workshop”, two company developed softwares allows quick and efficient classification, analyze, and management. It is available for sale with the training of your own analyst as well as the training on different tools, from identification to reporting.
Air surveillance and reconnaissance
Over the past four years we have provided over 7,000 hours of air surveillance and reconnaissance. Our current applications are law and order maintenance operations, wildfire detection, surveillance of ground and maritime borders, as well as the survey of illegal migration.
Our fleet is composed of C-208B Cessna Caravan, SW3A Fairchild Merlin, Casa 212-300, Turbine Islander and Short Skyvan. A dozen aircraft are fully dedicated to ISR mission and the different types of airplanes are taylored to the specific requirements of the missions
CAE-AVIATION owns, operates, modifies and maintains the whole fleet, and can provide integration/ modifications to different customers.
Surveillance and reconnaissance equipment
Our range of mission equipment comprises of:
• MX15, MX15HD, and MX20 from L3-Wescam (EO electro-optical and IR infra red sensors for day and night operations, 1,000mm to 3,200mm spotter, WALI, Wide Angle Laser Illuminator)
• Moving map system from aerocomputers
• Digital reconnaissance cameras (50 MPIX)
• Search and rescue radar (RDR 1400 and RDR 1500)
• Synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
• Consoles (CAE-Aviation developed)
• Real-time video downlink (up to 200km)
Parachute training camp
CAE-AVIATION owns Para Training camp, the largest European professional structure for military parachuting for armies and special forces, for freefall and Static Line jumps. We provide a permanent dedicated airspace fitting night and day HAHO and HALO requirements, canopy penetration, together with a large primary landing zone, as well as alternate DZ’s ranging from fields, to semi-urban terrain such as soccer fields, and parking lots.
The premises also consist of a restaurant, accommodation for camps up to 70 people, dedicated technical facilities (packing area, headquarters and video rooms, wireless Internet access…).
Three tailgate military version airplanes from CAE Aviation’s fleet are operated, a SHORT Skyvan, one Casa 212-300, a -200 and a Cessna Grnad Caravan C-208B…
Contact Details
CAE-AVIATION
Aeroport de Luxembourg?L-1110?Luxembourg
Tel: 00352 43 68 11
Fax: 00352 43 68 89
Email: info@cae-aviation.com
URL: www.cae-aviation.com