New SIGINT System Provides Tri-Band Satphone Monitoring

Horizon Aerospace Technologies has unveiled the Blackfish, a new airborne-qualified SIGINT (signals intelligence) system that provides simultaneous monitoring of the Iridium, Thuraya, and Inmarsat (IsatPhone Pro) satellite phone networks. With a compact size and weighing just 8kg, it is ideal for both fixed-wing and rotary UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).

BlackFish is based on a Software Defined Radio (SDR), and is equipped with powerful CPU and GPU processing capacity and a passively cooled system for maximal reliability and performance. The system has no moving parts, is designed for operation in extreme conditions, and is fully qualified to DO-160.

The completely self-contained satphone monitoring system requires no external peripherals such as external RF switching, complex cabling or multiple antennas. The highly sensitive L-band receiver front-end targets satphone communications, and the broadband system offers maximum out-of-band rejection of interference frequencies, with excellent dynamic range to handle near-far radio scenarios. With Horizon’s proprietary software, it can be easily integrated into aircraft tactical mission systems to look like one of many ISR sensors.

John Beckner, CEO of Horizon Technologies, commented: “Horizon Technologies has been listening to our customers, who want smaller, lighter systems and the ability to simultaneously monitor multiple satphone networks. They also want a common SIGINT product across manned aircraft and UAVs. BlackFish is the answer to these requirements, and like all our products, is non-ITAR.”

“We will have an actual production version at our stand at DSEI 14-17 September 2021, and will be demonstrating the system’s capabilities. While we are still supporting our legacy FlyingFish products, BlackFish is now our flagship product, and we are excited to be selling it to our worldwide government end users in support of their expanding ISR requirements. We have demo units available for evaluation anywhere worldwide and we look forward to engaging with our current and future customers to introduce BlackFish™ as the go-to satphone SIGINT solution.”

Source