Tel Aviv: The Orion rugged mobile terminal for dismounted forces that is being used by the Israeli defence forces (IDF) in all combat units is creating big interest in foreign defence forces.
The system has been developed by Israeli company Asio Technologies and enables off-grid and on-grid mission planning, real-time navigation, along with enhanced situational awareness using the Geographic Information System (GIS) database and Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities. It serves the individual soldier or commander up to the battalion level, allowing them to get real-time updates from each other regarding friendly and hostile forces, as well as additional mission-critical information.
According to David Harel, CEO of Asio Technologies’ Orion can securely communicate and interface with other Asio Technologies’ tactical solutions, such as the Lynx tactical hand-held multi-function situation awareness system, to provide a fully integrated tactical combat suit for ground forces.
Lynx is a tactical day/night augmentation system for fighting commanders that features powerful machine vision algorithms to enhance tactical operation and situation awareness and reduce cognitive load. Fully versatile, it enables field of view (FOV) and infrared (IR) detector swap and versatile laser range finder (LRF) configuration.
The newest version of the Lynx, has a new configuration and upgraded capabilities. The new Lynx features Asio Technologies’ new Geo Fusion Core. Offering highly accurate real-time image-to-map transformation, it enables augmentation and targeting, coupled with enhanced AI capabilities. Altogether, it improves users’ situational awareness and mission robustness.
The updated hardware has an advanced sensor core with a cutting-edge 12u LWIR (Long-wave infrared) pixel sensor, a narrow beam LRF, a rechargeable internal battery, and advanced orientation and positioning sensors. The latest Lynx architecture is 30% smaller and 20% lighter than its predecessor, making it the most advanced and compact tactical hand-held augmentation system developed explicitly for junior command and field combatants.
According to Harel, the Orion is widely used by the IDF and is helping the combat units fighting against the Hamas terror organisation in Gaza.
“This system can be used for online exchange of data and also to support missions according to pre-planned plans,”
said Harel. Further, he added that the interest in the system has soared as a result of the war in Ukraine and now by the ongoing war in Gaza. Armies understand the crucial capabilities of this systems in the very complex battle ground.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
