Harris Corporation has been awarded three multi-award IDIQ contracts with ceilings totaling $1.5 billion to provide the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) with geospatial data services for up to 10 years.
Harris will create, manage and disseminate high-quality geospatial-intelligence (GEOINT) information for use by the U.S. intelligence community and military worldwide under contracts that cover all three areas of NGA’s JANUS program – geography, imagery and elevation.
The JANUS program will contribute to and maintain comprehensive, geospatially accurate databases of the world that can be accessed quickly as intelligence, operational and crisis needs arise.
Harris will use its predictive analytics technology to continuously evaluate the health of NGA databases and to guide the acquisition, creation and integration of all forms of geospatial data. Harris’ cloud-based tools will validate and correct the data – pinpointing locations that require updates.
“Winning JANUS continues our long-standing legacy of providing high-quality, responsive GEOINT and analytics to the intelligence and military communities,” said Bill Gattle, president, Harris Space and Intelligence Systems, in a July 10 press release. “Our analytics technology provides NGA with fit-for-purpose data, reduced production costs and cloud-based access to geospatial products and content.”
Harris is investing in new technologies that improve the speed and accuracy of providing GEOINT products. The company has partnered with the NGA for almost 20 years to provide automated geospatial data processing, data management, and geospatial systems design and development. Harris provides high resolution geospatial data content and products under NGA’s Foundation GEOINT Content Management program, and previously supported the Global Geospatial-Intelligence program.
Worldwide Maritime Tracking Technology
Earlier, Harris announced its first four maritime vessel tracking receivers are now operational – establishing the beginning of the only global, persistent, real-time Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship tracking capability.
Launched Jan. 14 onboard four Iridium NEXT satellites, the maritime tracking hosted payloads are now tracking 250,000 ships and providing data to government and commercial customers. Once the satellite constellation is fully operational next year, it will offer a continuous revisit rate and improved vessel detection and downlinking of AIS information, with an average latency of less than one minute – the fastest, most accurate vessel information available, according to the company.
Harris owns and operates the AIS payloads and is the exclusive provider of exactEarth AIS products and services to the U.S. government. Harris is partnered with exactEarth, which performs the ground-based data processing and continues to service all other global markets.
“Ninety percent of the world’s trade is transported via oceans, making maritime domain awareness critically important,” said Bill Gattle, president, Harris Space and Intelligence Systems. “This is the first global, persistent, real-time system for the industry, enabling customers to accurately track cargo, tanker, passenger and fishing vessels outfitted with existing AIS transceivers.”
