Vice Adm. Sharp: Commercial satellites a important counterforce to Russian disinformation – SpaceNews
Sharp mentioned NGA is not imposing any limitations on the sharing of commercial satellite imagery by U.S. businesses
DENVER – Geospatial intelligence in the sort of commercial imagery and analytical providers “have been instrumental to people battling in Ukraine, and to shaping worldviews of the crisis,” stated Vice Adm. Robert Sharp, director of the Countrywide Geospatial Intelligence Company.
In a keynote speech April 25 at the GEOINT Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, Sharp praised initiatives by U.S. intelligence agencies, allies and professional satellite operators “to deliver context and clarity to advanced predicaments.”
Visuals gathered by industrial spy satellites are “even remaining applied successfully to supply transparency, and counter Russian disinformation,” he stated.
Sharp has served as director of NGA because 2019. He is retiring in June and will be replaced by President Biden’s nominee Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth.
Despite an abundance of business satellite imagery, the need continues to outpace source, he reported.
“We’re not at the place that we’re extremely saturated,” Sharp explained. “Some people today assume we have persistence from room, that we’re continuously checking every little thing.” But that is not the case, he explained. “We are having much more frequent snapshots, so we’re heading in the correct path.”
He informed the viewers of geospatial marketplace gurus: “I think you all have task safety.”
“Geospatially dependent solutions have been certainly essential in offering environment leaders and army planners a widespread comprehension of what’s going on in Ukraine and its bordering areas,” he mentioned.
The processes applied by NGA to review and distribute intelligence are labeled, Sharp stated.
But he did say that NGA is monitoring Ukraine and the broader region, and disseminating geospatial intelligence to associate nations. NGA also facilitates allies’ entry to commercial imagery from U.S. firms. “Is NGA Okay with all that, even encouraging it? Unquestionably. Heck yeah. No constraints,” he insisted.
In yet another project in support of U.S. allies, NGA personnel assisted U.S. European Command to coach allies to work a spy drone known as the Aerial Reconnaissance Tactical Edge Mapping Imagery Method, or Artemis. It’s a tiny aircraft that’s utilized when it’s cloudy and atmospheric circumstances are unsuitable for satellite selection, which is routinely the case around Ukraine.
Since of this initiative, he mentioned, “we now have armed service forces in Europe who can use Artemis for substantial-resolution imagery, building their individual geoint at the tactical edge that can be quickly shared at the unclassified stage with worldwide associates, and with no limits.”
Sharp mentioned NGA is not imposing any limitations on the sharing of commercial satellite imagery by U.S. businesses
DENVER – Geospatial intelligence in the sort of commercial imagery and analytical providers “have been instrumental to people battling in Ukraine, and to shaping worldviews of the crisis,” stated Vice Adm. Robert Sharp, director of the Countrywide Geospatial Intelligence Company.
In a keynote speech April 25 at the GEOINT Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, Sharp praised initiatives by U.S. intelligence agencies, allies and professional satellite operators “to deliver context and clarity to advanced predicaments.”
Visuals gathered by industrial spy satellites are “even remaining applied successfully to supply transparency, and counter Russian disinformation,” he stated.
Sharp has served as director of NGA because 2019. He is retiring in June and will be replaced by President Biden’s nominee Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth.
Despite an abundance of business satellite imagery, the need continues to outpace source, he reported.
“We’re not at the place that we’re extremely saturated,” Sharp explained. “Some people today assume we have persistence from room, that we’re continuously checking every little thing.” But that is not the case, he explained. “We are having much more frequent snapshots, so we’re heading in the correct path.”
He informed the viewers of geospatial marketplace gurus: “I think you all have task safety.”
“Geospatially dependent solutions have been certainly essential in offering environment leaders and army planners a widespread comprehension of what’s going on in Ukraine and its bordering areas,” he mentioned.
The processes applied by NGA to review and distribute intelligence are labeled, Sharp stated.
But he did say that NGA is monitoring Ukraine and the broader region, and disseminating geospatial intelligence to associate nations. NGA also facilitates allies’ entry to commercial imagery from U.S. firms. “Is NGA Okay with all that, even encouraging it? Unquestionably. Heck yeah. No constraints,” he insisted.
In yet another project in support of U.S. allies, NGA personnel assisted U.S. European Command to coach allies to work a spy drone known as the Aerial Reconnaissance Tactical Edge Mapping Imagery Method, or Artemis. It’s a tiny aircraft that’s utilized when it’s cloudy and atmospheric circumstances are unsuitable for satellite selection, which is routinely the case around Ukraine.
Since of this initiative, he mentioned, “we now have armed service forces in Europe who can use Artemis for substantial-resolution imagery, building their individual geoint at the tactical edge that can be quickly shared at the unclassified stage with worldwide associates, and with no limits.”