Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System
Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System is a system for image acquisition, data storage, and data link used by the United States Marine Corps on its F/A-18D Hornet aircraft. It consists of the Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System with infrared and visible light sensors, two digital tape recorders, and a Reconnaissance Management System ; an interface with the APG-73 Radar Upgrade which records synthetic aperture radar imagery; and a digital data link mounted in a centerline pod. ATARS fits in the nose in place of the nose gun, with a small datalink pod mounted on the centerline station. The digital data link will transmit imagery and auxiliary data to any Common Imaging Ground/Surface Station compatible system including the Joint Services Imagery Processing System or Marine Tactical Exploitation Group based ashore and Navy JSIPS aboard ship.