From Sandia’s Lab to the Contested Battlespace
IEEE Spectrum Aerospace & Defense Radar Technology
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| AN/APY-8 Antenna Assy |
Evolving The Lynx SAR/GMTI Radar:
A quarter-century after General Atomics and Sandia National Laboratories designed a lightweight Ku-band synthetic aperture radar for unmanned aircraft, the Lynx system remains the backbone of MQ-9 Reaper ISR worldwide. But the technology that made it revolutionary—a mechanically steered dish, GaAs electronics, and a TWTA transmitter—now limits its relevance in an era of AESA arrays, GaN semiconductors, and AI-driven exploitation. Here is how the Lynx got to where it is, why it matters, and where the technology goes next.
1. Origins: A Corporate Gamble That Paid Off
The Lynx story begins in the mid-1990s, when General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) was still an insurgent company building its reputation on the original Predator. The firm made an unusual decision: it would fund the development of a high-performance SAR entirely with corporate money, partnering with Sandia National Laboratories for the radar design and image-formation algorithms. At the time, tactical SAR systems were heavy, expensive, and tightly controlled by established prime contractors. GA-ASI wanted a radar small enough for the I-GNAT and Predator airframes, capable enough to compete with manned reconnaissance sensors, and affordable enough to sell commercially.
Sandia brought deep expertise. The laboratory had been building and flying SAR systems since the 1980s, developing key algorithmic innovations including Overlapped-Subaperture (OSA) processing and Phase-Gradient Autofocus (PGA)—techniques that allowed extremely fine resolution images to be formed in real time despite platform motion errors. Armin Doerry, a distinguished radar engineer at Sandia and a co-developer on the original Lynx team, would later receive SPIE Fellow recognition for work that spanned much of the growth arc of modern airborne SAR. His publications on SAR performance limits, motion compensation, and impulse response analysis provided the theoretical bedrock on which the Lynx architecture rested.
Flight tests commenced in July 1998 aboard Sandia’s DOE DeHavilland DH-6 Twin-Otter. By March 1999 the radar was flying on a GA I-GNAT UAV. Within two years, Sandia had built two units and GA was constructing a third. The image quality goals were met or exceeded in manned flight tests, and by the early 2000s the radar was heading toward military qualification under the AN/APY-8 designation.
2. System Architecture: State of the Art, Circa 1999
The original Lynx is best understood as two assemblies: a Radar Electronics Assembly (REA) housed in a VME-bus chassis, and a Gimbal Assembly containing the antenna, front-end microwave components, and motion-measurement hardware. Combined weight was approximately 125 pounds (57 kg), with minor variation depending on cable assemblies for different platforms.
RF Front End
Lynx operates in the Ku band between 15.2 and 18.2 GHz—a frequency chosen for its favorable compromise between atmospheric propagation, achievable resolution for a given antenna size, and low probability of intercept in the dense electromagnetic spectrum below X band. The transmitter is a traveling-wave tube amplifier (TWTA) producing 320 watts at 35-percent duty factor, averaged across the operating band. The receiver employs a low-noise amplifier delivering an overall system noise figure of approximately 4.5 dB—reasonable for the era, though today’s GaN-based front ends can cut that by a decibel or more.
The antenna is a vertically polarized horn-fed dish with a 3.2-degree azimuth beamwidth and a 7-degree elevation beamwidth, mounted on a custom three-axis gimbal designed and built by Sandia. All front-end components ride on the inner gimbal, which enables the wide squint-angle range (±45 to ±135 degrees off the velocity vector in stripmap mode) that gives operators the flexibility to image on either side of the aircraft across a wide field of regard.
Signal Processing
The digital waveform synthesizer generates a linear FM chirp with 42-bit parameter precision at 1 GHz. The analog-to-digital converter operates at 125 MHz and provides 8-bit data, which is presummed and preprocessed before transmission across a RACEway bus to the signal processor—sixteen nodes of Mercury Computer Systems 200-MHz PowerPC processors, implementing a scalable architecture for image formation. Four additional nodes handle motion measurement, radar control, and optional data recording.
Image formation in all SAR modes uses stretch processing (de-ramping the received chirp prior to digitization), followed by the OSA algorithm and PGA autofocus. This pipeline produces either complex (undetected) images for coherent change detection or detected images for the operator display. The motion compensation philosophy is to correct as early as possible in the signal path: transmitted waveform parameters and pulse timing are adjusted in real time to collect optimal data on the desired space-frequency grid, minimizing subsequent interpolation. Residual spatially variant phase errors are compensated during OSA processing, and any remaining unsensed-motion artifacts are cleaned up by autofocus.
Navigation and Motion Measurement
The inertial measurement system centers on a Litton LN-200 fiber optic IMU mounted directly on the antenna back, augmented by a carrier-phase GPS receiver from Interstate Electronics Corporation. A Kalman filter fuses these measurements to estimate position and velocity with the accuracy required for sub-foot SAR resolution. This architecture—IMU on the antenna itself—was a critical design choice: it eliminates the flexure-related errors that plague systems where the IMU sits in the airframe and the antenna is separated by compliant structure.
| Parameter | Spotlight | Stripmap | GMTI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 0.1 to 3.0 m | 0.3 to 3.0 m | — |
| Slant Range | 4–25 km (3–60 km derated) | 7–30 km (3–60 km derated) | 4–25 km |
| Min. Detectable Velocity | — | — | 5.8 kts (at 35 m/s near range) |
| Min. Target Cross-Section | — | — | +10 dBsm |
| Angular Coverage | ±50–130° | ±45–135° | ±135° (270° total) |
| Frequency | Ku band, 15.2–18.2 GHz | ||
| Transmit Power | 320 W (TWTA), 35% duty factor | ||
| System Weight | ~125 lb (57 kg) | ||
| Noise Figure | ~4.5 dB | ||
3. Operational Evolution: Block 20A, Block 30, and Beyond
The Lynx that flies today on MQ-9 Reapers worldwide is not the radar that first imaged the Belen railroad bridge over the Rio Grande in 1999. GA-ASI’s Reconnaissance Systems Group has incrementally upgraded the system through several block configurations, adding capabilities that the original architecture anticipated but did not initially implement.
The Block 20A introduced Dismount Moving Target Indicator (DMTI) mode—capable of detecting individual people on foot, not merely vehicles—and a Maritime Wide Area Search (MWAS) mode that extends coverage to over 80 kilometers of ocean surface for vessel detection. VideoSAR, demonstrated in 2013, provided continuous real-time high-definition SAR surveillance in full 1080p video format, bridging the gap between the traditional SAR “snapshot” and full-motion video from EO/IR turrets. The Block 30 Lynx saw deployment in NATO exercises including Unified Vision 2012 at Ørland, Norway, where the radar provided uninterrupted all-weather ISR coverage across land and maritime domains alongside allied ISR assets.
Automated exploitation tools have also evolved. Amplitude Change Detection (ACD) and Automated Man-Made Object Detection (AMMOD) algorithms allow rapid comparison of SAR image pairs, highlighting differences that human analysts might miss in the torrent of data from a long-endurance mission. The Claw sensor-control and image-analysis software, developed by GA-ASI’s Reconnaissance Systems Group, provides the integration layer that cross-cues the Lynx radar with the aircraft’s EO/IR turret—a capability demonstrated repeatedly in combat operations and exercises.
Today, GA-ASI reports that the Lynx Multi-mode Radar is deployed by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army (on Gray Eagle and the former Sky Warrior Alpha), the Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the French Air Force, the Iraqi Air Force (on Peace Dragon manned ISR aircraft), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It has flown on platforms including the MQ-9 Reaper, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, C-12, U-21, DH-7, and King Air 200.
4. Combat Lessons: The Houthi Problem
The Lynx radar’s operational record cannot be discussed without confronting the losses. The MQ-9 Reaper, and by extension the Lynx sensor suite it carries, was designed for permissive airspace—environments where the platform could orbit at medium altitude with impunity while the radar and EO/IR sensors surveilled the terrain below. That assumption has been violently challenged over Yemen.
Since 2023, Houthi forces have shot down multiple MQ-9 Reapers operating over the Red Sea and Yemeni airspace. At least three were lost in 2024, a fourth was mistakenly downed by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, and losses continued to mount through 2025 into 2026. By April 2026, an estimated 24 U.S. MQ-9s had been lost in the broader conflict, many to surface-to-air systems that would have been considered low-tier threats a decade ago.
These losses expose a structural limitation that transcends the radar itself. The MQ-9 platform is slow (240 knots), non-stealthy, and predictable in its orbit patterns. The Lynx radar’s 25–30 km operational slant range at full resolution requires the aircraft to fly within the engagement envelope of even modest SHORAD systems. A sensor that could achieve comparable image quality at 80 or 100 km of standoff—or that could operate from a faster, more survivable platform—would change the calculus fundamentally.
5. Where Current Technology Could Take a Lynx-Class Radar
If you were to redesign the Lynx today, starting from its mission requirements but unconstrained by its 1990s component technology, the result would be transformational across every subsystem. The physics of SAR have not changed, but the engineering available to exploit that physics has advanced enormously. What follows is a subsystem-by-subsystem assessment of where mature, available technology could take a Lynx-class radar while maintaining or reducing the original system’s size, weight, and power envelope.
5.1 Phased Array Antenna Replacing the Mechanical Dish
The single most impactful upgrade would be replacing the mechanically gimbaled horn-fed dish with an Active Electronically Scanned Array. The original Lynx antenna—a vertically polarized dish on a custom Sandia three-axis gimbal—was elegant for its era, but a mechanical gimbal imposes fundamental constraints: slew rate limits the speed of mode transitions, the gimbal mechanism is a reliability liability with bearings, slip rings, and resolvers that wear over time, and the entire front-end assembly (TWTA, LNA, antenna, IMU) rides on the inner gimbal, driving weight and moment-of-inertia upward.
GA-ASI is already moving in this direction. The EagleEye radar’s planned AESA antenna, which the company projects will more than double the radar’s range from roughly 80 km to over 160 km, was in lab prototype by late 2024 with flight tests planned for 2025. For a Lynx-class system, an AESA provides electronic beam steering with zero mechanical inertia (enabling near-instantaneous mode-switching between SAR, GMTI, and maritime search), graceful degradation as individual T/R modules fail (unlike a TWTA, where a single tube failure is catastrophic), low probability of intercept through beam agility and waveform diversity, wider instantaneous field of regard without gimbal travel limits, and the elimination of the heavy gimbal mechanism itself—a substantial weight and reliability win.
Leonardo’s ECRS Mk2 AESA radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon, which completed its first flight trial in September 2024 and is currently optimizing SAR and GMTI modes through 2025, demonstrates the state of the art: simultaneous target tracking and electronic attack from a single aperture, with digital beamforming enabling multiple independent beams. That paradigm—a single array supporting multiple concurrent radar functions—is precisely what a next-generation Lynx needs.
5.2 GaN Transmitter Replacing the TWTA
The original Lynx’s 320-watt traveling-wave tube amplifier was the highest-power, most efficient transmitter available in a Ku-band airborne package in the late 1990s. But TWTAs are bulky, require high-voltage power supplies (typically several kilovolts), have finite tube life, and are single-point failures. Replacing the TWTA with distributed GaN-based solid-state power amplifiers integrated into each T/R module of an AESA array transforms the transmitter from a single fragile component into a distributed, fault-tolerant power source.
The key enabler is gallium nitride semiconductor technology. GaN HEMT power amplifiers deliver substantially higher power density, wider bandwidth, and better efficiency than the GaAs devices that dominated radar front ends for decades. At Ku band, GaN-based single-chip front ends (SCFEs) integrating the power amplifier, low-noise amplifier, and T/R switch on a single die have been demonstrated by European consortia including the ESA-funded INDIGAM project, which achieved 10 watts of transmit power with 30-percent power-added efficiency and a receive noise figure below 2.8 dB at 13–16 GHz. South Korea’s ETRI and Wavice achieved domestically fabricated GaN MMICs for AESA radar and SAR satellite applications in 2025, establishing performance parity with U.S. and European foundries.
GaN-on-SiC stacks exploit silicon carbide’s superior thermal conductivity to draw heat from junction hot spots, enabling higher duty cycles and longer pulse widths without liquid cooling. Raytheon’s PhantomStrike AESA, designed for small platforms including unmanned CCAs and now selected for the DARPA ACE autonomous F-16, demonstrated that a fully air-cooled GaN AESA radar is feasible—eliminating the liquid cooling plumbing that would otherwise add weight and complexity. For a Lynx-class system with, say, 200–400 T/R modules each producing 5–10 watts at Ku band, the aggregate radiated power would exceed the original TWTA by a significant margin while distributing the thermal load across the entire array face, enabling passive or forced-air cooling within the original power budget.
5.3 Improved Low-Noise Amplifier
The original Lynx’s receiver chain delivered an overall system noise figure of approximately 4.5 dB. Every decibel of noise figure improvement translates directly into detection range: a 1.5-dB improvement yields roughly 10 percent more range for the same target cross-section, or equivalently allows detection of smaller targets at the same range. Modern GaN LNAs at Ku band have demonstrated noise figures below 2.8 dB in the INDIGAM single-chip front end, and dedicated GaAs pHEMT LNA designs from companies like Altum RF push noise figures below 2.0 dB at X and Ku bands in compact QFN packages. Integrating a modern LNA into each T/R module’s receive path, positioned immediately behind the antenna element to minimize transmission line losses, would cut the system noise figure by 1.5–2.0 dB relative to the original Lynx—a meaningful sensitivity improvement that translates to extended range, improved minimum detectable velocity in GMTI, and better performance against low-observable targets.
5.4 Navigation-Grade IMU and Multi-Antenna GNSS
The original Lynx’s Litton LN-200 fiber optic IMU was a tactical-grade unit—excellent for the late 1990s, but the state of the art has moved considerably. Honeywell’s HG3900, an all-silicon MEMS IMU currently in design verification with initial production planned for 2027, claims near-navigation-grade performance (matching or exceeding fiber optic gyroscope and ring laser gyroscope stability) in a dramatically smaller, lighter, lower-power package. For applications requiring proven navigation-grade performance today, EMCORE’s closed-loop FOG products (acquired from KVH Industries) deliver bias stability below 0.05°/hr in compact form factors, with the navigation-grade DSP-1760 gyroscope offering the world’s smallest precision FOG with photonic integrated chip technology for improved reliability. Honeywell has even demonstrated a hybrid quantum-enhanced FOG with drift below 0.1 m/hr over a 24-hour mission.
Upgrading from the LN-200 to a navigation-grade IMU would improve the SAR’s ability to maintain coherent apertures during long spotlight dwells, reduce the burden on autofocus algorithms, and improve geolocation accuracy for targeting applications—all without increasing weight.
Equally important is the GPS subsystem. The original Lynx used a single Interstate Electronics Corporation carrier-phase GPS receiver. A modernized system should employ a multi-antenna GNSS array—three or four antennas distributed on the aircraft structure—to provide direct attitude determination in addition to position and velocity. Multi-antenna carrier-phase GNSS attitude systems can achieve heading accuracy of 0.01–0.05 degrees with baselines of one meter or more, providing an independent check on the IMU’s attitude solution and dramatically improving heading accuracy during straight-and-level flight where gyroscope drift is otherwise unobservable. The system should receive multi-constellation signals (GPS L1/L2/L5, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou) for resilience against single-constellation jamming or spoofing. Anti-spoofing capability—using angle-of-arrival consistency checks across the antenna array to detect illegitimate signals—is no longer optional in contested environments where GPS warfare is an active threat.
The multi-antenna GNSS solution also eliminates the need for a dedicated heading sensor or magnetic compass, simplifying the navigation architecture while improving accuracy. Sony has demonstrated time-multiplexed single-receiver architectures that switch rapidly among multiple antennas, achieving attitude determination without requiring a separate receiver per antenna—a significant SWaP advantage for UAV integration.
5.5 Simultaneous SAR and GMTI
One of the most consequential limitations of the original Lynx is that SAR and GMTI are time-sequential modes: the operator selects one or the other. In the original architecture, this was unavoidable—a single dish antenna with a single receive channel cannot simultaneously form a high-resolution SAR image and perform the multi-channel clutter cancellation required for GMTI. An AESA with digital beamforming changes this equation fundamentally.
With multiple simultaneous receive beams, a digital AESA can partition its aperture and processing to perform SAR imaging and GMTI concurrently. The IEEE literature documents this explicitly: multichannel SAR systems with digital beamforming can simultaneously generate ambiguity-free scene images and detect ground moving targets using adaptive sum-and-difference beam techniques. A 2016 IEEE paper specifically described a processing architecture for simultaneous SAR, GMTI, ATR, and tracking from the same radar data. Leonardo’s ECRS Mk2 is demonstrating exactly this class of concurrent multi-function operation in its 2025 flight optimization phase.
For the operator, simultaneous SAR/GMTI eliminates the tactical penalty of mode-switching: moving targets detected by the GMTI beam are automatically correlated with the SAR scene context, and the SAR image provides the stationary-scene backdrop against which GMTI tracks become immediately interpretable. This fusion of stationary-scene imagery with moving-target tracks, delivered in near-real-time, is what commanders actually need—and what the original Lynx, despite its individual mode excellence, could not provide simultaneously. Space-time adaptive processing (STAP), enabled by the multichannel digital receive architecture, would also substantially lower the minimum detectable velocity below the original Lynx’s 5.8-knot threshold, bringing slow-moving dismounts and vehicles on rough terrain into the detection space.
5.6 Modern Signal Processing and On-Board AI
The original Lynx’s sixteen 200-MHz PowerPC nodes delivered perhaps 10–20 GFLOPS of sustained throughput for image formation. A single current-generation embedded GPU—say an NVIDIA Orin or a ruggedized A100—delivers hundreds of TFLOPS, a four-order-of-magnitude improvement. This computational abundance enables real-time Video SAR at full resolution across wider swaths, on-board deep-learning inference for automatic target recognition (ATR) and change detection, adaptive waveform optimization based on terrain and target characteristics, multi-aperture and multi-baseline interferometric processing that would have been computationally prohibitive in 1999, real-time coherent change detection without ground-station processing, and the simultaneous SAR/GMTI processing described above.
The shift from fixed-function DSP pipelines to software-defined, GPU-accelerated architectures also makes the radar fundamentally more adaptable. New modes and exploitation algorithms can be deployed as software updates, not hardware redesigns—a paradigm that GA-ASI has embraced with EagleEye’s AI/ML-enhanced target detection running on board the aircraft.
The explosion of deep learning applied to SAR imagery represents the most consequential change since the radar itself was invented. A February 2026 survey in Sensors documented the state of the art across SAR despeckling, segmentation, classification, and detection, finding that convolutional neural networks are the predominant architecture but that generative adversarial networks and graph neural networks remain significantly underutilized and offer substantial room for improvement. For a modernized Lynx-class system, AI/ML enables automated GMTI track correlation and behavior analysis, coherent change detection with learned scene models that dramatically reduce false-alarm rates, cross-cueing between SAR, GMTI, and EO/IR sensors based on learned target signatures, and synthetic training data generation using GAN-based SAR image synthesis. GA-ASI has stated that EagleEye incorporates real-time AI/ML software running on the aircraft for improved target detection range, and the broader industry is racing to embed autonomous exploitation at the sensor edge.
5.7 Wideband Digital Waveform Generation
The original Lynx DWS generated chirps with 42-bit precision at 1 GHz. Modern direct digital synthesis and arbitrary waveform generation can produce multi-GHz bandwidths with far greater flexibility. Wider instantaneous bandwidth directly translates to finer range resolution; a system with 2–3 GHz of bandwidth at Ku band could achieve centimeter-class range resolution, opening applications in fine-grained structural assessment and damage characterization. Equally important, wideband agile waveforms provide electronic protection—a radar that hops across a 3-GHz-wide band on a pulse-to-pulse basis is far harder to detect, jam, or geolocate than one transmitting a fixed chirp on a predictable center frequency.
5.8 Longer Range, Wider Swath
The combined effect of the upgrades described above—higher aggregate transmit power from a GaN AESA, lower noise figure from modern LNAs, wider bandwidth, and smarter signal processing—yields dramatic improvements in the two parameters that matter most operationally: maximum standoff range and area coverage rate. The original Lynx achieved 25–30 km slant range at full resolution in weather; a modernized system with an AESA could operate at 80–160 km, keeping the platform outside the engagement envelopes of most SHORAD threats. Wider swath coverage follows from the AESA’s ability to form multiple simultaneous receive beams (using the scan-on-receive technique) to capture returns from a broader ground strip without sacrificing range resolution. Where the original Lynx stripmap mode yielded a 934-meter view size at 0.3-meter resolution, a digital beamforming architecture could extend the ground swath to several kilometers at the same resolution—a step-change in area coverage rate that transforms the sensor from a soda-straw into a surveillance tool.
5.9 Wiring, Cabling, and Integration
An often-overlooked but operationally significant improvement area is the cable harness. The original Lynx used custom cable assemblies that varied by platform, contributing to the weight variance noted in the specification (about 125 lb with “some variance due to different cable assemblies for different platforms”). The REA communicated with the gimbal assembly via dedicated RF, digital, and power cables routed through the airframe—a design driven by the VME-bus era’s separate-box architecture.
A modern redesign would consolidate the radar into fewer physical modules with high-speed serial interconnects (replacing the RACEway bus and VME backplane with modern standards like 10/40 Gigabit Ethernet or PCIe-over-fiber), reducing both the number and weight of inter-module cables. The elimination of the gimbal removes the most complex cable routing problem entirely—no more slip rings, no more flex cables to the inner gimbal. Power distribution benefits similarly: the TWTA’s high-voltage supply (several kilovolts for the tube) is replaced by lower-voltage DC distribution to the T/R modules, simplifying the power conditioning electronics and reducing cable insulation weight. Modern flex-rigid printed circuit interconnects can replace many discrete cables within the electronics assembly, further reducing weight and improving reliability by eliminating connectors—each of which is a potential failure point in a vibration environment. The net effect is a cleaner, lighter, more reliable installation that is easier to integrate across different platforms—precisely the “relatively generic packages” philosophy that Sandia’s original designers aspired to, but now achievable with far fewer compromises.
5.10 Maintaining or Reducing SWaP
The critical constraint on all of the above is that the modernized system must fit within the same or smaller size, weight, and power envelope as the original Lynx. The original system weighed approximately 57 kg (125 lb) and drew power consistent with a medium-altitude UAV’s payload budget. The good news is that the weight and power reductions from eliminating major legacy components—the TWTA and its high-voltage power supply, the three-axis gimbal with its drive motors and resolvers, the VME chassis with twenty PowerPC boards, and the associated cabling—create substantial margin for the new components. A GaN AESA with integrated T/R modules, a single GPU-accelerated signal processor board, a modern navigation-grade IMU, and multi-antenna GNSS receivers can be packaged in a form factor that is lighter and more compact than the original two-box architecture. The thermal management challenge shifts from cooling a single hot TWTA to managing distributed lower-level heat across the array face—a problem that GaN-on-SiC’s high thermal conductivity and air-cooled AESA designs have shown to be tractable. The target should be 45–55 kg total system weight with reduced prime power draw—achievable with disciplined systems engineering and the SWaP advantages of modern semiconductor and packaging technology.
5.11 Data Links and Distributed Processing
The original Lynx offered two image-transmission paths: an NTSC video link (treating the radar as “just another sensor”) and a digital data link for full-resolution NITFS 2.0 imagery. Today, the requirement is for wideband, LPI/LPD data links that can deliver Video SAR, multi-mode MTI tracks, and ATR products simultaneously to multiple consumers—ground stations, other aircraft, and command nodes in a joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) architecture. On-board AI processing is critical here: rather than downlinking raw SAR imagery at full resolution (which saturates any practical data link), the modernized system would downlink ATR detections, GMTI track files, change-detection alerts, and operator-selected image chips—compressing the data bandwidth requirement by orders of magnitude while delivering higher-value intelligence products.
5.12 Self-Calibration, Built-In Test, and Fault Detection
A significant production bottleneck of the original Lynx was that each deliverable unit required hand calibration by flight test. The system’s analog RF chain—TWTA, upconverter, receiver, and mechanically aligned antenna—exhibited unit-to-unit variations in gain, phase, and frequency response that could only be fully characterized in the actual flight environment, where vibration, temperature gradients, and aerodynamic loading affected performance. This drove delivery schedules outward and required Sandia and GA engineering support for each installation.
A digital AESA architecture fundamentally changes this paradigm. Each T/R module contains its own digitally controlled phase shifter and variable-gain amplifier, enabling closed-loop self-calibration by injecting known reference signals and measuring the response of every element. The array can characterize and correct its own amplitude and phase errors at power-up, periodically during operation, and after environmental changes—compensating for hardware imperfections, temperature drift, and aging without external test equipment. IEEE research has documented self-calibration algorithms for digital beamforming arrays that compensate not only for internal errors but even for external cover effects such as painted radomes. Current AESA production experience shows that element-level testing and phase calibration account for over 40 percent of total manufacturing cost; self-calibration dramatically reduces this by replacing chamber-based element-level characterization with in-situ automated procedures that run in minutes rather than days.
Equally important is continuous built-in test (BIT). The digital AESA can monitor the health of every T/R module in real time—detecting failed elements, degraded power output, elevated noise figure, or phase-shifter errors—and automatically reconfigure the beamforming weights to maintain performance despite element failures. This provides the operator and maintenance crew with a precise fault map without requiring specialized test equipment, transforming maintenance from periodic scheduled inspections to condition-based servicing. The array degrades gracefully: losing 5 percent of elements (20 out of 400) costs only about 0.45 dB in array gain, whereas a TWTA failure is catastrophic and grounds the sensor. The net production and sustainment impact is substantial: eliminate flight-test calibration from the delivery process, reduce field maintenance burden, and increase operational availability from the 70–80 percent range typical of complex analog radar systems toward the 90+ percent characteristic of modern digital arrays.
5.13 On-Board Data Storage and Recording
The original Lynx provided optional data recording on four additional PowerPC nodes, with storage capacity limited by late-1990s media technology. Modern ruggedized NVMe solid-state drives provide 4–16 TB per unit in compact M.2 or U.2 form factors, with sustained write speeds of 3–7 GB/s—sufficient to record full-bandwidth complex (I/Q) phase history data in real time for post-mission analysis and SAR image reprocessing.
For a modernized system with 200-MHz sample bandwidth, 16-bit digitization (vs. the original 8-bit), and a 5-kHz pulse repetition frequency, the raw recording data rate is approximately 4 GB/s per channel. A 16-TB SSD provides roughly 67 minutes of continuous raw recording—sufficient for multiple collection passes within a single sortie. The jump from 8-bit to 14–16-bit ADC resolution alone represents a significant dynamic range improvement of 36–48 dB over the original Lynx’s 48 dB, enabling detection of weak targets in the presence of strong clutter without saturating the receiver.
On-board recording of complex phase history data is essential for three advanced capabilities that the original Lynx could not fully exploit. First, coherent change detection requires library images registered to sub-pixel accuracy against new collections; the original Lynx transmitted complex images to the ground station for CCD processing, but on-board storage with GPU processing enables both real-time and post-mission CCD without ground-station dependency. Second, tomographic 3D SAR processing requires precisely co-registered multi-pass data that must be stored and recalled for joint inversion. Third, post-mission ATR training benefits enormously from having raw phase history data available: new target signatures discovered during exploitation can be traced back to the original collections for algorithm refinement and retraining.
5.14 3D SAR Imaging, Tomographic Processing, and Layover Elimination
One of the fundamental limitations of all conventional two-dimensional SAR—including the Lynx—is the layover phenomenon. Targets at different heights but the same range and Doppler frequency collapse into the same image pixel, creating geometric distortions that severely degrade image interpretability in urban areas, mountainous terrain, and complex infrastructure. The original Lynx’s coherent change detection mode represented an early approach to extracting additional information from registered image pairs, but true three-dimensional reconstruction was beyond its capabilities.
Tomographic SAR (TomoSAR) resolves this limitation by constructing a synthetic aperture in the elevation direction through multiple passes at different spatial baselines. For a total perpendicular baseline span of 100 meters (achievable with 5–8 passes at different flight altitudes or lateral offsets), a Ku-band system achieves elevation resolution of approximately 2.25 meters—sufficient to separate ground-level and rooftop scatterers on multi-story buildings and eliminate layover ambiguity. A 2025 paper in the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing proposed multi-frequency TomoSAR (MF-TomoSAR) configurations that achieve comparable 3D imaging quality with fewer passes by exploiting frequency diversity—directly applicable to a wideband Ku-band AESA that can tune across the full 15.2–18.2 GHz Lynx band.
For an airborne UAV SAR with an AESA containing multiple receive subarrays, single-pass 3D imaging becomes feasible without multiple orbits. Distributing receive phase centers across the array aperture creates interferometric baselines within the array itself. With a Ku-band array of 20–30 cm vertical extent and 4–8 receive subarrays, single-pass elevation resolution of 5–15 meters is achievable—coarser than multi-pass TomoSAR but immediately valuable for real-time terrain modeling and layover mitigation during the mission.
Multi-pass 3D reconstruction with precise flight path control yields high-quality 3D point clouds that can be processed into building models, terrain maps, and infrastructure damage assessments. The computational requirements for tomographic inversion—historically a barrier to operational deployment—are readily addressed by the GPU signal processor described in Section 5.6. Deep-learning approaches to TomoSAR, including compressed-sensing algorithms and neural network-based elevation estimation, further reduce the number of passes required for acceptable 3D reconstruction quality. A July 2025 comprehensive review of SAR tomography documented 30 years of progress from the first Ku-band laboratory demonstration in 1995 to current deep-learning-assisted spaceborne and airborne systems. The combination of on-board complex data recording (Section 5.13), GPU processing, and AI-assisted tomographic inversion positions a modernized Lynx-class system to deliver 3D scene reconstruction as a standard operational product rather than a specialized post-mission analysis exercise.
| Parameter | Original Lynx (1999) | Modernized Concept (2026 Tech) |
|---|---|---|
| Antenna | Mechanical dish, 3-axis gimbal | GaN AESA, electronic steering, no gimbal |
| Transmitter | 320 W TWTA, single tube | Distributed GaN T/R modules, >1 kW aggregate ERP |
| LNA / Noise Figure | ~4.5 dB (system) | <3.0 dB (GaN/GaAs LNA per element) |
| Spotlight Resolution | 0.1 m | 0.05–0.1 m (wider bandwidth) |
| Max Operating Range | 25–30 km (full spec) | >80 km; >160 km with AESA |
| Swath Width (Stripmap) | 934 m (0.3 m res) | Multiple km (digital beamforming) |
| SAR/GMTI | Sequential modes only | Simultaneous (multichannel DBF) |
| Min. Detectable Velocity | 5.8 kts | <3 kts (STAP processing) |
| IMU | Litton LN-200 (tactical grade) | Navigation-grade FOG or MEMS |
| GNSS | Single antenna, GPS only | Multi-antenna, multi-constellation + attitude |
| Signal Processor | 16× Mercury 200 MHz PPC (~10–20 GFLOPS) | GPU-accelerated, >100 TFLOPS |
| Video SAR | Not available (added later) | Native mode, HD real-time |
| On-Board ATR / AI | None | Deep-learning inference at edge |
| Electronic Protection | Limited (fixed waveform) | Wideband agile waveforms, beam agility |
| Cabling | Custom per-platform, VME/RACEway bus | High-speed serial, flex-rigid PCB, fewer connectors |
| Weight | ~57 kg (125 lb) | 45–55 kg target |
| Calibration | Flight-test hand calibration per unit | Automated AESA self-calibration at power-up |
| Fault Detection | External test equipment required | Continuous BIT, per-element health monitoring |
| On-Board Recording | Optional, limited capacity | 16 TB NVMe SSD, ~67 min full I/Q recording |
| 3D Imaging / Layover | None (2D SAR only) | TomoSAR (~2.25 m elev. res.), single-pass array InSAR |
6. The EagleEye Bridge
GA-ASI’s EagleEye radar, which came off the production line on 31 July 2024, represents the clearest near-term path from Lynx’s legacy architecture toward the modernized concept described above. Designed as a drop-in enhancement for the U.S. Army’s Gray Eagle Extended Range and the new Gray Eagle 25M, EagleEye delivers SAR/GMTI, Video SAR, change detection, and Maritime Wide Area Search in a package that GA-ASI describes as offering “multiple times the range” of previous radars.
The planned AESA upgrade—funded by GA-ASI corporate investment, paralleling the original Lynx development model—targets more than doubling EagleEye’s 80-kilometer range. As Jeff Hettick, GA-ASI vice president of Agile Mission Systems, framed it, the increased range and optimized multi-mode performance allow the aircraft to operate well outside the weapons engagement zone of most threat systems, adding survivability for the platform and the sensor alike. The Army National Guard has ordered 12 Gray Eagle 25M aircraft with EagleEye as part of the initial configuration.
The broader trajectory is clear: the Lynx Multi-mode Radar continues to serve on MQ-9 Reapers and other platforms worldwide, providing proven ISR capability that allies and combatant commands depend on daily. But the technology baton is passing to EagleEye and its successors, which will carry Lynx’s DNA—the video-camera-like user interface philosophy, the deep Sandia algorithmic heritage, the multi-mode flexibility—into an era where standoff range, electronic resilience, and autonomous exploitation are not optional features but survival requirements.
7. Adaptation to LEO Satellite Deployment
The modernized Lynx-class system described in Section 5, with its GaN AESA, GPU processing, and 45–55 kg total mass, falls squarely within the parameter space of current commercial SAR microsatellites. ICEYE’s X-band SAR satellites weigh approximately 85–92 kg with peak transmit power of 3–4 kW; Capella Space’s Acadia-class satellites operate at X-band with sub-0.25 m resolution; and China’s Taijing-4(03), launched in January 2024, deployed a Ku-band phased-array SAR payload weighing less than 80 kg with better than 1-meter resolution. The question is not whether a Lynx-derived sensor could fly in orbit, but what engineering challenges must be addressed to make the transition from an airborne to a spaceborne environment.
7.1 The Thermal Problem: Dissipating Heat in Vacuum
This is the central challenge. In the atmosphere, the original Lynx dissipated its TWTA and electronics heat through a combination of conduction to the airframe and forced convection from the aircraft’s slipstream. In LEO, there is no convective cooling—heat must be rejected entirely by radiation to space and conduction to spacecraft thermal mass. The problem is acute for a GaN AESA because the aggregate DC power input to the array can be substantial.
Consider a 400-element Ku-band AESA with 5–10 W RF output per element at 30% power-added efficiency. At 10 W per element and 30% PAE, each element dissipates approximately 23 W of heat (10 W / 0.30 = 33 W DC input, of which 23 W is waste heat). For 400 elements operating simultaneously, the total thermal dissipation is approximately 9.3 kW—an enormous heat load for a microsatellite. However, spaceborne SAR systems do not operate continuously. The duty cycle is the critical design variable: ICEYE satellites operate with peak RF power of 3–4 kW but image for only a fraction of each orbit (typically 10–60 seconds per imaging pass, with a total imaging duty cycle of perhaps 5–15% of the orbit). The Taijing-4 Ku-band SAR similarly pulses its array for brief imaging windows, storing solar energy in batteries during the sunlit arc and discharging during the imaging pass.
For a Lynx-derived spaceborne system, the thermal design strategy would involve several elements. First, limiting the number of simultaneously active T/R modules: rather than activating all 400 elements at full power, the digital AESA can operate with a subset (say 100–200 elements) for wider-swath, coarser-resolution modes, reserving full-array operation for high-resolution spotlight passes of limited duration. Second, thermal mass buffering: the array structure and spacecraft bus absorb heat during the brief imaging pulse (tens of seconds), then dissipate it radiatively over the remainder of the orbit (approximately 90 minutes for a 500-km LEO). A 2024 MDPI study on thermal optimization for a 310-kg X-band SAR satellite achieved peak T/R module temperatures below 29°C during imaging by integrating thermal interface materials directly into the antenna structural design, achieving what the authors described as “zero-consumption thermal design” for the SAR antenna. Third, deploying radiator panels on the anti-sun side of the spacecraft, sized to reject the time-averaged thermal load rather than the peak instantaneous load.
The thermal challenge is real but tractable. GaN-on-SiC’s inherently high thermal conductivity (SiC substrates conduct heat approximately 3× better than GaAs) is a significant advantage: it allows higher junction temperatures (up to 200°C for brief pulses, vs. 150°C for GaAs) without reliability degradation, providing margin for the constrained cooling environment of space. The key insight is that the spaceborne thermal problem is dominated by duty cycle management, not by the peak power capability of the array.
7.2 Power Budget and Solar Array Sizing
A spaceborne SAR’s power architecture operates fundamentally differently from an airborne system. The aircraft provides continuous prime power from the engine-driven generator; a satellite must harvest solar energy, store it in batteries, and discharge at high rates during imaging. For the 400-element array at full activation drawing approximately 13 kW of DC (33 W per element × 400), even a 30-second spotlight dwell requires 13 × 30 / 3600 = 0.11 kWh of battery energy. With a 25% orbit duty cycle for imaging (multiple passes per orbit), the total energy requirement per orbit might be 0.5–1.0 kWh, well within the capability of modern lithium-ion battery packs (ICEYE satellites carry battery packs providing roughly 1.6 kWh of usable capacity). The solar array must be sized to replenish this energy plus housekeeping loads over the sunlit portion of the orbit. For a 500-km dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit with approximately 60 minutes of sunlight per 95-minute orbit, a solar array generating 600–1000 W average would sustain the imaging duty cycle.
7.3 Radiation Environment and Component Hardening
LEO satellites operating at 400–600 km altitude are exposed to trapped radiation in the South Atlantic Anomaly, solar particle events, and galactic cosmic rays. Every electronic component in the modernized Lynx must be assessed for radiation tolerance. The good news is that GaN devices exhibit inherent radiation hardness superior to silicon and GaAs: the wide bandgap (3.4 eV vs. 1.1 eV for Si) means that radiation-generated electron-hole pairs cannot produce the parasitic short circuits that cause single-event effects (SEE) in narrower-bandgap materials. EPC Space has delivered rad-hard GaN power FETs rated above 1,000 kRad(Si) total ionizing dose (TID) with SEE immunity to linear energy transfer (LET) of 83.7 MeV·cm²/mg—far exceeding the LEO environment. Thousands of rad-hard GaN devices are already operating in orbit.
The more challenging radiation concern is the signal processor. Current GPU-class processors (NVIDIA Orin, etc.) are designed for automotive and industrial environments, not space radiation. Space-qualified alternatives include Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGAs (used in the S-STEP SAR satellite), radiation-tolerant ARM processors, and emerging rad-hard GPU-class devices from companies like Innoflight. The software-defined nature of the GPU processing architecture allows migration to whatever space-qualified processing hardware is available, with algorithmic adjustments for the different computational profile. FPGA-based signal processors are already standard in operational SAR satellites (ICEYE, Capella, S-STEP) and can implement the OSA image formation algorithm and deep-learning inference networks in radiation-tolerant fabric.
7.4 Orbit Geometry and SAR Performance at LEO Altitude
Moving from airborne to spaceborne operation changes the SAR geometry fundamentally. At a 500-km orbit altitude (vs. 5–10 km for a UAV), the slant range increases by two orders of magnitude, the platform velocity jumps from 35 m/s to approximately 7,500 m/s, and the synthetic aperture time for a given azimuth resolution shortens dramatically. The SAR radar equation (1) shows that SNR degrades as R³—a factor of 10&sup6; for a 100× range increase. This is partially compensated by the much larger synthetic aperture (higher platform velocity yields longer effective aperture for a given dwell time), longer coherent integration, and the ability to use larger antenna apertures in space (where weight is constrained but physical size less so). Current spaceborne SAR microsatellites achieve 0.25–1.0 m resolution at slant ranges of 500–800 km with peak transmit powers of 1–4 kW, confirming that the physics closes for a Ku-band AESA in the Lynx power class.
A Ku-band choice (vs. the X-band favored by ICEYE and Capella) offers both advantages and challenges for spaceborne operation. The shorter wavelength provides finer resolution for a given antenna size and bandwidth, but Ku-band suffers greater rain attenuation than X-band—roughly 2–5 dB for moderate rain at Ku-band vs. 0.5–1 dB at X-band. For many applications (urban monitoring, infrastructure assessment, defense ISR), the resolution advantage outweighs the rain penalty, particularly for a system designed to operate at multiple selectable resolutions.
7.5 What Would a Spaceborne “Lynx II” Look Like?
Synthesizing the analysis above, a space-adapted variant of the modernized Lynx would likely be a 80–120 kg microsatellite with a deployable Ku-band AESA (perhaps 2–3 m² deployed antenna area, comparable to ICEYE’s Gen4 doubled-antenna configuration), GaN T/R modules with rad-hard power conditioning, an FPGA-based signal processor implementing the Sandia-heritage OSA/PGA algorithms with on-board AI inference, 16 TB of radiation-tolerant solid-state storage for phase history recording and on-board CCD/TomoSAR processing, and a high-rate optical inter-satellite link (OISL) for data relay—a technology that Capella has already demonstrated on orbit. Such a system would deliver 0.25–1.0 m SAR resolution with GMTI and CCD capability from LEO, with self-calibrating AESA arrays that eliminate the hand-calibration problem that plagued the original Lynx’s production, and with imaging duty cycles managed to keep peak T/R module temperatures within GaN-on-SiC operating limits. A constellation of 12–24 such satellites in phased orbital planes could provide sub-hourly revisit—a persistent, all-weather ISR capability that no single airborne platform can match, and one that is immune to the SHORAD threats that have destroyed 24 MQ-9 Reapers over Yemen.
“A constellation of 12–24 Lynx-derived SAR microsatellites could provide sub-hourly revisit—a persistent, all-weather ISR capability immune to the SHORAD threats that have destroyed 24 MQ-9s over Yemen.”
The most compelling aspect of a spaceborne Lynx-derived SAR is that General Atomics already possesses all the necessary corporate competencies—split across two affiliates that have never, to public knowledge, combined their capabilities on a SAR satellite program.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS), based in San Diego alongside GA-ASI, has built an extensive space systems portfolio. The division describes itself as having “rich heritage and extensive expertise in the design, integration, test, and manufacture of satellites, payloads, and space systems at any scale.” Specifically, GA-EMS brings the GA-75 spacecraft bus—a 75-kilogram-class modular, configurable half-ESPA platform designed to support ISR and communications payloads, compatible with multiple launch vehicles and capable of packaging two spacecraft per ESPA port. Two GA-75 spacecraft with GA-EMS Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) are scheduled for launch in 2026 under a Space Development Agency contract for Tranche 1 LEO airborne-to-space demonstrations. The EWS weather satellite program—a $380 million contract restructured in 2024 to include two operational weather satellites with five years of on-orbit services through 2030—demonstrates GA-EMS’s ability to deliver complete spacecraft with integrated sensor payloads on operationally relevant schedules. GA-EMS supplies EO/IR missile warning, tracking, and fire control payloads for Lockheed Martin’s SDA Tranche 2 Tracking Layer (18 satellites, launch in 2027). And in September 2025, GA-EMS and Kepler Communications successfully demonstrated bi-directional air-to-space optical communications between a GA-EMS OCT mounted on an aircraft (using a GA-ASI LAC-12 turret) and an SDA Tranche 0-compatible satellite in LEO—proving the cross-division integration that a joint SAR satellite program would require.
GA-ASI, meanwhile, brings the Lynx/EagleEye SAR design heritage, the Sandia-derived image-formation algorithms, the Claw exploitation software, the VideoSAR and GMTI processing chain, and 25 years of operational experience in UAV radar integration. The company’s Reconnaissance Systems Group has the radar RF engineering, signal processing, and AI/ML exploitation expertise that would be required for the SAR payload itself.
A joint GA-ASI/GA-EMS program would combine these complementary capabilities into a vertically integrated SAR satellite system. The division of labor maps naturally: GA-EMS provides the spacecraft bus (GA-75 or a scaled variant), power system, thermal management, attitude determination and control, optical inter-satellite links, and launch integration; GA-ASI’s Reconnaissance Systems Group provides the Ku-band GaN AESA SAR/GMTI payload, the GPU or FPGA signal processor running Sandia-heritage algorithms, the on-board AI exploitation chain, and the ground segment software including Claw. The self-calibrating AESA architecture described in Section 5.12 eliminates the flight-test hand-calibration bottleneck that plagued the original Lynx—essential for a constellation where you need to build and launch 12–24 satellites on a production timeline, not hand-tune each one.
The corporate structure makes this feasible: both divisions are affiliates of privately held General Atomics, answering to the same ownership (the Blue family). There are no inter-company contracting barriers of the kind that complicate collaborations between independent primes. The precedent for cross-division integration already exists: the September 2025 air-to-space optical communications demonstration explicitly combined a GA-EMS OCT with a GA-ASI airborne turret, with GA-EMS vice president Gregg Burgess publicly describing the connection between the two divisions’ capabilities.
What would such a satellite look like? An 80–120 kg microsatellite built on a scaled GA-75 bus, carrying a deployable Ku-band GaN AESA (2–3 m² deployed antenna area), with GA-EMS optical communication terminals for SDA-compatible data relay, FPGA-based signal processing implementing the OSA/PGA algorithms with on-board AI inference, 16 TB of radiation-tolerant solid-state storage, and the self-calibrating array that eliminates per-unit flight calibration. A constellation of 12–24 in phased orbital planes could provide sub-hourly revisit of any point on Earth—persistent, all-weather, day/night SAR and GMTI coverage that is immune to the SHORAD threats that have destroyed 24 MQ-9 Reapers over Yemen. The data flows through SDA-standard optical crosslinks to ground stations or directly to tactical users via the same Claw exploitation software that MQ-9 operators already know.
General Atomics would not be entering the commercial SAR constellation market cold. ICEYE (54+ satellites, €250M+ revenue in 2025, a €1.5B backlog) and Capella Space have proven the business model. Rheinmetall took a 60% stake in ICEYE in 2024, explicitly to create a cross-domain provider bundling orbital imaging with ground-based systems. A GA SAR constellation would target the defense and intelligence market segment where the company’s existing relationships—U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, allied air forces—provide immediate customer pull, and where the integration of spaceborne SAR with airborne Reaper/Gray Eagle ISR would offer a multi-domain sensing architecture that no competitor currently provides.
“A GA-ASI/GA-EMS joint SAR constellation would offer a multi-domain sensing architecture—integrating spaceborne SAR with airborne Reaper and Gray Eagle ISR—that no competitor currently provides.”
8. The Institutional Question
The Lynx radar’s development history illuminates a pattern that recurs throughout GA-ASI’s corporate strategy: the company funds critical technology development internally, maintains tight integration between radar and platform, and delivers capability faster than traditional DoD acquisition programs. Lynx was developed entirely on GA corporate funds. EagleEye’s AESA upgrade is likewise a company investment. This model has produced results—but it also means that the most ambitious modernization possibilities (a fully digital AESA with GaN, on-board GPU processing, and AI-driven autonomy) depend on the alignment between corporate investment horizons and military procurement timelines.
The U.S. Air Force, meanwhile, plans to retain 140 MQ-9 Reapers through 2035 while divesting older airframes and seeking a “more survivable, flexible, and advanced platform.” The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programs—including GA-ASI’s own YFQ-42A Gambit—will likely require a new class of conformal, low-observable sensors that share Lynx’s mission but not its form factor. The question for the next decade is whether the investment in sensor modernization will keep pace with the investment in airframes, or whether the services will fly advanced platforms with sensors designed for a threat environment that no longer exists.
9. Conclusion
The Lynx SAR/GMTI radar stands as one of the most successful tactical sensor programs in the history of unmanned aviation. Conceived as a corporate-funded venture between a then-upstart drone maker and a national laboratory, it delivered a multimode, fine-resolution imaging radar at a fraction of the weight and cost of contemporaneous systems—and it worked from the first flights. Its architecture embodied elegant engineering choices: the IMU on the antenna, the stretch-processing pipeline, the View Manager interface that let non-radar operators exploit the sensor like a video camera.
But the world the Lynx was designed for—permissive airspace, low-threat targets, bandwidth-limited data links, and human analysts with time to study SAR imagery—is receding. The technologies available to transform a Lynx-class system are mature: GaN AESA arrays, GPU signal processors, deep-learning ATR, and wideband agile waveforms. The demonstrated losses of MQ-9 platforms to contested air defenses make the case for standoff-range, electronically resilient sensors with self-evident urgency. GA-ASI’s EagleEye represents a credible bridge, but the full potential of modern radar technology applied to the UAV SAR mission remains largely unrealized.
Armin Doerry, in a career spanning nearly three decades of SAR development at Sandia, often returned to a fundamental point in his publications: the performance limits of a SAR system are dictated by physics, no matter how bright the engineer. That remains true. But the distance between what physics allows and what the fielded systems deliver has never been wider. Closing that gap is the engineering challenge of the next decade.
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