Defense & Intelligence

Supporting a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, DigitalGlobe is committed to meeting and exceeding their strategic and tactical requirements and expectations. From supporting military actions and national security to emergency management and mapping intelligence, DigitalGlobe supports national and international customers to keep their citizens safe and protect precious resources.

A robust surveillance program requires broad area coverage and timeliness. DigitalGlobe addresses both of these, collecting a target anywhere on the globe every 3 to 4 days.

The information content provided by our very high-resolution imagery provides a capability to conduct detailed reconnaissance and subsequent extraction of critical information on targets (e.g., force capabilities, vulnerability assessments and facility characterization).

Imagery permits generic identification of most armor and support vehicles (e.g., differentiating between tanks, armored personnel carriers and self propelled artillery), and specific identification for some vehicles through measuring length, width and barrel lengths. Field deployments are readily detectable using the panchromatic and multispectral imagery, as well as natural color (pansharpened) imagery where revetments and trenching are easily identifiable.

Identify all major naval vessels (combatants and support vessels) by specific class using the panchromatic data. This includes recognizing major offensive and defensive weapons systems, ship superstructures, antennas and even mooring lines. Ship repair activities and dockside activities are readily seen, allowing analysts to determine repair cycles and preparations for mobilizing.

Classification of military aircraft is possible, enabling analysts to tell the difference between similar aircraft (excluding variants). Additionally, our imagery shows you all airfield components, including runway/taxiway/parking apron layout, hardened aircraft shelters, runway markings, support infrastructure, ILS components and munitions storage areas. It also is useful for detecting changes in force mobilization or to the airfield components (runway expansion, digging of underground facilities, etc.).

Use imagery to locate mobile and fixed surface to air missiles (it is possible to determine if a launcher is loaded) and identify anti aircraft artillery (AAA) formations.

When conducting facility analysis, both the panchromatic and multispectral imagery reveal facility subcomponents by specific function. Our imagery supports monitoring force deployments, conducting order of battle assessments and detecting change in facilities over time (multispectral imagery also plays an integral role in accomplishing change detection).

DigitalGlobe imagery provides critical information about weapons storage facilities. From our imagery, you can understand bunker construction techniques, see the different types of storage for different types of ordnance, identify transshipment facilities and methods and measure bunkers and structures accurately.

Detailed bomb damage assessment (BDA), which encompasses timely and accurate estimates of damage resulting from operational military strikes, are often performed using DigitalGlobe imagery. In many cases, you can fully assess the details of the physical and functional damage to a facility, particularly with before and after imagery.

Our imagery is crucial to monitoring weapons development efforts because it reveals weapons delivery platforms, engine testing, firing ranges and ballistic test facilities.

Most security organizations depend heavily on up to date maps to support operational and training requirements. Our satellites were specifically designed for collection to support mapping programs and provide data that is both spatially and spectrally accurate. Use our data to produce traditional hard copy mapping products from 1:50,000 up to 1:10,000 scales, large scale maps suitable for supporting defense operations and very detailed site diagrams.

AEgis Technologies Group – provider of expert modeling and simulation services – and DigitalGlobe – a leading provider of high-resolution commercial imagery—have partnered to provide an exclusive real-time 3D image product that can be rapidly created from any of our high-resolution satellite images. ImageScape is a merger of high-resolution satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) to provide the user a rich real-time 3D viewing capability. Unlike traditional 3D terrain models, expensive software is not required for viewing this product; instead a free robust 3D viewer is provided that allows the user to interact with the data in real-time. The viewer provides the ability to add Geomarkers, perform measurements, and add addition GIS data as needed.

The combination of state-of-the-art models, tools and services from AEgis and high-resolution imagery from DigitalGlobe results in powerful 3D simulation capabilities. A number of factors contributed to this incredible achievement, including the fact that DigitalGlobe is operating a constellation of sub-meter commercial imaging satellites. Together, AEgis and DigitalGlobe have created ImageScape, which combines 3D wireframe terrain topologies with DigitalGlobe's high-resolution imagery to render 3D representations of any area in the world as requested by our customers.

The end result of using the advanced computational methods and rendering algorithms developed by AEgis and the satellite imagery supplied by DigitalGlobe is the ability to create 3D virtual models of any required location in the world – using the highest-resolution commercial data available – more than four times faster and at a fraction of the cost of anyone else in the industry! The data that is created during this process can be output in a variety of formats. Databases are also extensible for future updates and additions. It is due to this speed that AEgis and DigitalGlobe can imagine, design, create, and deliver at a world-class pace.

DigitalGlobe imagery supports identification of key strategic industries such as energy, extraction and manufacturing facilities. With it, you can analyze each of these facilities in great detail, identifying what is being produced and the capacity for production and inventory at the facility. For example, individual power lines are visible, transformers can be counted and pipelines measured – all this data supports your assessments of the power plant’s potential capacity. Moreover, our multispectral imagery provides critical information on various types of raw material used in a manufacturing process, as well as potential environmental impacts.

Seconds on Orbit (SOO) is a unique program designed to meet the high priority access and collection flexibility needs of defense and intelligence customers. The program features a combination of SOO-specific tasking and order options that allow the customer to more closely align collection requirements with changing operational demands.

SOO order options are offered exclusively to SOO customers and provide the highest performance and delivery services available. SOO customer service is provided 24 hours/day, 7 days/week by Strategic Account Specialists dedicated to specific customer accounts.

• Highest available tasking priority
• Accelerated access to imagery
• SOO exclusive pricing
• Shared cloud cover protection
• Reduced tasking windows
• Priority order processing
• Dedicated account management
• 24/7 on-call support
• SOO-specific training

"Since its inception in November 2003, the Multinational Geospatial Co-Production Program (MGCP) has been working toward bolstering international cooperative production and coordination of high-resolution digital vector data in high-interest regions where inadequate data currently exists. The project represents the most current evolution of a 10-year, global vector-map level 1 (VMAP1) effort that began in 1993 and was revamped in 2003."

Fillmore, Randolph. Military Geospatial Technology, "The Multinational Geospatial Co-Production Program is making big strides toward getting global high-resolution data common across the board," Mar 23, 2006 in Volume: 4 Issue: 1.

The 28 nations taking part in the Program:

    Australia
    Belgium
    Bulgaria
    Canada
    Czech Republic
    Denmark
    Estonia
    Finland
    France
    Germany
    Greece
    Hungary
    Italy
    Latvia
    Lithuania
    Moldova
    Netherlands
    New Zealand
    Norway
    Poland
    Portugal
    Romania
    Slovakia
    Spain
    Sweden
    Turkey
    United Kingdom
    United States