The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) just deployed a camera system that uses an artificial intelligence-based visual recognition and identification system called the Enhanced Regional Situational Awareness (ERSA) system. The DOD says that the ERSA system is closely monitored by the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS), based in Rome, New York and some 300 miles north of the White House. If the Joint Air Defense Operations Center (JADOC) based in Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling cannot determine the identity of radar contact, it will use the AI-equipped cameras to visually check the approaching bogey.
“If we need to validate some radar data that we can’t for sure say what it is, we can utilize the camera system as an asset to look in that set location to assist in the validation process,” says Air Force Master Sgt. Kendrick Wilburn, the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of capabilities and requirements at JADOC. If the operators of the ERSA determine that the unidentified aerial vehicle is a threat, it could then warn the unauthorized traffic to change direction and get out of the Washington metropolitan’s Special Flight Rules Area.
