April 9,
2008: Britain is spending over $200 million to implement LEAPP (Land
Environment Air Picture Provision). This is mostly a software project, which
collects radar information, from nearly all systems operating in an area, then
combines what these sensors (mostly radars) see into one real-time image that
commanders can see at will (if they have the right equipment and password).
It's as simple as that, and something that commanders and staffs have been
requesting for a long time. In the past, such a capability was impossible
because of the difficulty in collecting and combining all the data. But cheaper
and faster networking, and computers, make LEAPP possible. Merging the data
from many radars provides a much more accurate view of what's up there, as the
more data you have, the more accurate the composite picture is.