Gorgon Stare

[8] Gorgon Stare was under development for more than two years and is designed to download 65 different images to a variety of military users for analysis; this is what is referred to as "wide-area persistent surveillance.

In 2009, the U.S. Air Force began development of a wide-area surveillance system to enable the MQ-9 Reaper long-endurance UAV to survey an entire small city from 25,000 ft (7,600 m).

Requiring fewer systems to recon a large area frees up more available assets to be able to perform other missions and enables operations to be more limited where a light "footprint" is desired.

[13] The first Gorgon Stare system consisted of two sensor pods, one carrying electro-optical (EO) and infrared cameras (IR), the other digital processors and data-links that enabled quick transmission of actionable intelligence to operations centers and troops in the field.

The system delivered three "tiers" of surveillance down to small details within the broader field of view, so users receiving images within seconds after collection could identify items of immediate tactical interest, and recorded data would be stored for up to 30 days.

[10] Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol, the director of the ISR Task Force, reported in a news conference that Gorgon Stare was planned to be deployed in December 2011.

[3] On 1 July 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation revealed that the Gorgon Stare Increment 2 pod had achieved initial operating capability (IOC) earlier in the year.

Sierra Nevada Corporation remained the overall system integrator, meaning it is responsible for merging the sensors, processors, data-links and air vehicle into one package that distributes information in real-time with minimal latency through the joint force's tactical intelligence network.