KS-128 Night Photo System Flight Test Results

Donald I. Groening

doi:10.1117/12.954820

8 September 1976 KS-128 Night Photo System Flight Test Results

Donald I. Groening

Proceedings Volume 0079, Aerial Reconnaissance Systems: Pods/Aircraft I; (1976) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.954820
Event: 1976 SPIE/SPSE Technical Symposium East, 1976, Reston, United States

Abstract

This paper describes the recent results of flight tests of the KS-128A Night Photo System. The KS-128A is an electronic flash equipped, low altitude camera system designed to replace the pyrotechnic cartridges currently used on the RF-4C aircraft. The system consists of two KS-87B cameras equipped with 6 inch f/1.5, near infrared (NIR) lenses and a centerline pod mounted (NIR) electronic flash subsystem. The performance of the system in its initial flight tests and evaluation was comparable to that of the daylight cameras on the RF-4C. Subsequent to the initial evaluation, one camera was modified by the addition of a small NIR light in front of the lens to produce "Concurrent Photo Amplification (CPA)." Recent flight tests indicate that CPA doubles the performance of the system at low energy levels. These results show that a CPA equipped night photo system with the performance of the KS-128A would need an illuminator only one-half the size of the present subsystem. Similarly, this reduction in illuminator requirements makes conventional flash photography from relatively light aircraft for civilian surveillance purposes practical. Examples of test photography will be presented.

Citation Download Citation

Donald I. Groening "KS-128 Night Photo System Flight Test Results", Proc. SPIE 0079, Aerial Reconnaissance Systems: Pods/Aircraft I, (8 September 1976); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.954820

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