Tactics

• Tactics is the maneuvering and application of soldiers and hardware during battle. By offering images regarding a battlefield, satellites typically offer tactical advantages to the belligerent able to master them. In addition, technologies able to deliver information that is immediately "actionable," or able to be acted upon, can affect commanders' tactical decisions.
  
  

Need

• In the Afghanistan and Iraq wars that started in 2001 and 2003, respectively, improvised explosive devises (IEDs) became a leading cause of casualties for the U.S. and its allies. Consequently, military leaders sought out technologies able to quickly identify unseen threats.
  
  

ARTEMIS

• ARTEMIS is designed to fill this need by using spectral imaging able to distinguish the chemical signatures of bombs, for example, or identify an area of loose earth where a bomb may be buried. This information is "responsive and tactically effective" in that it can be requested and then sent directly to field commanders as they maneuver their forces.