U.S. Army wants AI-enabled long-range optical sensor for brigade scouts

The U.S. Army published a request for information on May 21, asking defense industry companies whether they can build a next-generation long-range optical targeting sensor that would replace two aging systems currently in service with reconnaissance and fire support units across the force.

The program, called the Future Advanced Long-range Common Optical/Netted-fires Sensor and going by the acronym FALCONS, is being developed as a formal Army acquisition program to replace the Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System, known as LRAS3, and the Fire Support Sensor System, known as FS3. Industry responses are due by June 18, 2026.

The LRAS3 has been the Army’s primary vehicle-mounted long-range surveillance and targeting optic for ground reconnaissance units since it was fielded in the late 1990s. The system gives scouts and cavalry units the ability to detect, identify, and locate targets at ranges exceeding 10 kilometers, providing the kind of persistent deep-look capability that lets a brigade commander understand what is happening well beyond his own forward positions.

The FS3 is a complementary system designed specifically for fire support teams, giving forward observers the ability to locate targets precisely enough to call in artillery, mortar, and close air support with high accuracy. Both systems were designed for a threat environment and a technology baseline that is now roughly three decades old, and both carry the reliability and capability limitations that come with sustained service on aging hardware in demanding field conditions.

FALCONS is designed to replace both with a single unified sensor built around a government prototype already developed at an Army research laboratory. That prototype, called the Common Advanced Multi-band Thermal Aided Configurable Sensor or CAMTACS, is an electro-optical system capable of detecting, recognizing, and identifying targets and locating them precisely across all battlefield conditions, including darkness and degraded visibility. The Army’s RFI describes a sensor design that integrates third-generation forward-looking infrared imaging, a precision far target location subsystem, a high-definition color day camera, a laser rangefinder with cross-platform pointing capability, an external laser designator for guiding munitions, and assured navigation systems that include M-Code GPS and inertial navigation to maintain positioning accuracy when adversaries jam conventional GPS signals.

The whole package interfaces with Army command and control networks, allowing sensor data to feed directly into targeting systems for what the RFI calls networked cooperative engagements, meaning information from one FALCONS sensor can cue fires from weapons the sensor operator cannot even see.

FALCONS includes hardware to host Aided Target Detection and Recognition algorithms, known as AiTDR in Army parlance, meaning the sensor is designed from the outset to run AI-assisted target classification software. Rather than requiring a trained operator to manually identify every vehicle or person in the field of view, the system can automatically flag objects of interest and classify them by type, significantly reducing the cognitive load on scouts and fire support specialists who are already managing multiple information streams in a contested environment. That capability reflects a broader Army push to integrate AI into targeting workflows across the force, accelerating the sensor-to-shooter timeline that determines how quickly a detected target can be engaged before it moves or hides.

The RFI makes clear that FALCONS must work in both vehicle-mounted and dismounted configurations, a requirement that constrains size, weight, and power in ways that a purely vehicle-mounted system would not face. A scout on foot carrying the sensor must be able to employ it effectively without being burdened to the point of degraded mobility, and the design must maintain sufficient battery life and environmental hardening for field use without the power supply that a vehicle’s electrical system provides. Integrating all of the capabilities described — thermal imaging, day camera, laser rangefinder, laser designator, GPS-denied navigation, AI processing — into a package that a soldier can carry is a non-trivial engineering challenge, which is why the Army is spending fiscal year 2027 working with the selected vendor to modify the existing CAMTACS technical data package for enhanced ruggedness, producibility, and reliability before producing five prototypes. Testing and characterization would begin in fiscal year 2028.

The Army has framed FALCONS explicitly around what it calls Large Scale Combat Operations, or LSCO, the doctrine developed in response to the recognition that the Army’s primary future threat is no longer counterinsurgency but peer and near-peer conventional warfare. LSCO assumes a heavily contested electromagnetic environment, active enemy jamming of GPS and communications, long-range precision fires from both sides, and an adversary that is sophisticated enough to actively hunt and destroy American reconnaissance platforms before they can report what they see. A sensor that can maintain assured positioning without GPS, pass targeting data over networked systems resilient to jamming, and provide AI-assisted target identification fast enough to beat an adversary’s sensor-to-shooter timeline is built for exactly that environment, not for the permissive conditions of counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan or Iraq.