The United States Pacific Air Forces (US PACAF) through the 13th Expeditionary Air Squadron (EAS) has brought the Eagle Vision, a ground-based satellite imagery system, to Clark Air Base in Pampanga, Philippines together with a collection manager from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii and geospatial and imagery anaylsts from Ft. Shafter, Hawaii.
The deployment was done to conduct a two-week long US PACAF Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) mission together with Philippine Air Force (PAF) members. The SMEEs will focus on using geospatial satellite imagery, acquired by Eagle Vision, to support Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief efforts.
“Eagle Vision can move all over the world, we can set up our system anywhere and start pulling down imagery from commercial satellites,” said Chief Master Sgt. Reid Tsubota, Eagle Vision Superintendent with the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
“The HADR applications of this system are incredible. In fact, this is our fourth time here in the Philippines. In 2006 we were initially supporting exercise Balikatan when the Southern Leyte mudslides occurred here. Using Eagle Vision we were able to to provide the Marine Corps’ first responders imagery that ultimately helped in the recovery and relief efforts,” Tsubota said.
(Update)