The Finnish Defense Force has procured HYDRA, the unattended, networked sensing system recently developed by SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems (S&AS) UK, a Finmeccanica company. The FDF will employ HYDRA as a system for perimeter and area surveillance at tactical level.
HYDRA is a situational awareness asset, which, through the use of distributed multimodal sensors, allows the user to detect, recognize, identify and track targets of interest from a safe, remote location. It utilizes visible band cameras, thermal cameras and acoustic tracking in conjunction with seismic, passive infrared and magnetic sensors.
The system comes in a collection of small, ruggedised sensor nodes, which, once deployed, form a wireless, sensing network. The use of combinations of modular sensors and communications makes it ideal to provide more effective detection of potential threats, while at the same time significantly reducing false alarms rates compared to the current generation of unattended ground sensors. Furthermore, the imaging sensors allow confirmation of the target through a remote ‘eyes on’ visual identification.
SELEX S&AS has offered the Finnish Defense Force a tailored solution for its requirement, enabled through the company's high level of technology and its group of world-class suppliers, including QinetiQ, the supplier of the acoustic tracking sensor.