News; Air Force seeks airborne tagging technology

Air Force officials want to learn about technology that makes it
possible for aircraft to remotely tag and track vehicles on the ground,
according to a solicitation posted on FedBizOpps.gov today.

The Air Force’s Air Armament Center Capabilities Integration Directorate
Division wants information from industry about developing the technology
and wants mature technology so it can be implemented quickly.

The technology should make it possible to apply tags to a variety of
vehicles from aircraft that are 3 kilometers or more away from a target,
and the tags should be capable of being sensed and tracked for at least
a few hours. Eventually, Air Force officials want the tags to last for a
few days, according to the announcement.

Ideally the tags would be inconspicuous, but could be readily detected
with a sensor. “In general, less obvious tags are better,” the
solicitation states.

The ideal tags would let trackers distinguish among multiple similar
vehicles with tags, and the tags should include a time stamp or
expiration feature, making it possible to know the age of a tag under
observation.