USGIF Member Spotlight: Textron Systems

Trajectory recently caught up with Daryl Madden, vice president of geospatial solutions at Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron Systems—known for its defense, government and aerospace technologies and services—about the company’s role in GEOINT and what the future holds.

What is Textron System’s role in the advancement of geospatial intelligence?

Textron Systems has been a leader in the geospatial intelligence community since its inception. Last year, our imagery exploitation product RemoteView™ celebrated its 25th anniversary. And during that time, we’ve been a leader in supporting new data types, new analytics and the adoption of new technologies, like web applications.

What solutions and services does Textron Systems provide?

Textron Systems has a variety of commercial products for different geospatial modalities like electro-optical synthetic aperture radar, LIDAR full motion video, and the analytics to process that data.

Who are your main customers?

Our main customers are the U.S. intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, as well as companies in 20 countries around the world.

What distinguishes Textron in the geospatial industry? What makes your company unique?

I would sum it up as innovation and customer engagement. Our geospatial group operates like a small business—highly responsive and agile—but with the backing of Textron, a $12 billion corporation. Also, we have very experienced employees who have done geospatial work for decades and are able to quickly respond to customers and their changing needs.

What excites you most about the future of GEOINT?

I can’t think of a more exciting industry. Just look at the commercial satellite market and the explosion of data and different types of data. And you combine that with cloud technology and artificial intelligence and machine learning innovations—there’s really just so much to be excited about.

What is your involvement with USGIF? How have you leveraged USGIF membership to contribute to the geospatial community or advance the tradecraft?

We’ve leveraged our membership in a whole bunch of ways. We participate in numerous working groups, such as the commercial GeoNetwork working group, machine learning and artificial intelligence working group and the NRO and industry advisory working groups. During COVID-19, it was really nice to have the GEOConnect series. And of course, we’ll be at GEOINT 2022.

What’s next for Textron Systems?

Really soon we’ll be able to offer our customers a new method of engagement through our e-commerce site. Textron Systems will be rolling out a new online shop that lets customers purchase and directly download software from the site and secure additional training, additional resources and support from our experts. We expect to launch this in the second quarter of this year. And really, finally, I’d like to underscore that Textron Systems is honored to play a part in supporting analysts and warfighters that keep our nation and world a safer place.

Featured image: Screenshot taken from the imagery exploitation product, RemoteView, uses two-color change detection to show flooding after Hurricane Harvey. (Image courtesy of Textron)