Dear Mohawk friends:

I know ... I´m absolutely late. I should have written to you "months" ago. But - this is not supposed to be an excuse - this year has gone so fast ... We have been very busy ... and the OV-1Ds are keeping us very busy !

Let me say this sincerely: please accept my apology for the delay.

As I said, we have been working a lot with the SLAR and KA-76 cameras. This was the first year in which the new SLAR system was fully operational and so we were really busy with training - first course for the digitized SLAR operators, that included Air Force guys (I´m sending a picture of one of the training sessions, where you can see the new hangar for the Mohawk Squadron in the back. It is almost finished right now !!). There´s another "group" shot during one of the courses, where you can see most of the Mohawk guys, from both units (pilots, mechanics and TOs).

I´m also enclosing a couple of pictures of the "working" SLAR installation aboard the aircraft. In the up_position.jpg shot you can see (through the small triangular window) how the computer+docking station end up almost vertically, nearly touching the windshield (keep in mind that the TO still has to be able to eject safely).

The other one - side_panel.jpg - is in the "operate" position. The design of the pivoting aluminum support (pneumatically operated) is quite amazing. We did it at CITEFA (http://www.citefa.gov.ar) ... and I´m quite proud of it !!

The open.jpg shot gives you an idea of the space restrictions for the computer (and the need to get it out of the way for the ejection procedure).

There are a couple of "bonus" shots - fly_high.jpg  and ae027.jpg - which are quite nice (see the green pastures of Argentine underneath the former ...). These last ones are just a present ...

This past October we received the brand new "ground segment" for the SLAR system, which is a mobile, shelter mounted ground station, where imagery is received in "near real-time" from the aircraft while in flight, up to 400 kilometers away. This equipment comes to fill an important operational need, since we did not get the data link (the AKT-18B was removed from the system prior to shipment to Argentina for reasons unknown to me).

Imagery is sent to the ground station through a secure VHF data link, where it is displayed in a 15" flat computer screen. The computer equipment is ruggedized off-the-shelf hardware. The software is very similar to the one that is used on board the aircraft (it has certain image processing and mensuration tools available to the image interpreter).

Next week I´m ending my tour as Company Commander of the Aerial Collection Company/Military Intelligence Detachment. LTC Grassi is going to be the Commander of the Mohawk squadron for another year (601st Intelligence Support Aviation Squadron).

I´m going to be replaced by MAJ Gabriel Pedretti, an outstanding OV-1D pilot and also Intelligence Officer. I´m sure he´ll keep in touch with you (hopefully more often than me !!)

This will be all for now. I´ll try to get a few more pictures for you. There´s a magazine called AvionReview and they´ve taking a lot of pictures for an article they´re preparing ... I´ll try to get them for you ... I didn´t want to wait any more time ... It´s already too late.

I hope you enjoy this submission ...

Best regards,
MAJ Guillermo Ferraris