U.S. Air Force medical providers discuss task force personnel capability to augment local hospitals as part of the COVID-19 response effort. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Deonte Rowell)

The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab have awarded geospatial intelligence analytics company BlackSky a contract to monitor COVID-19 mitigation efforts involving U.S. military bases and supply chains, BlackSky announced July 21.

BlackSky will use its Spectra artificial intelligence and machine-learning platform to monitor overseas U.S. military bases, ensure the protection of deployed personnel, and help maintain secure supply chains in near-real time.

Spectra will automatically analyze anomalies involving virus activity and monitor the application of social distancing preventative measures. The captured data will then be correlated against the reported infection numbers coming from local governments and integrated into the latest epidemiology models to predict risk to deployed U.S. Air Force personnel and the surrounding communities.

“It is imperative to have transparency into the status of critical nodes of the supply chain for planning purposes. With BlackSky’s global monitoring capability, the U.S. Air Force can maintain a watchful eye over its supply chain,” BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole said in a statement. “Spectra will provide the Air Force an easy to use outbreak monitoring and decision support tool. The platform will help us combat the spread of COVID-19, manage risk and ensure the protection of personnel around the globe.”

Financial details, including the timeline of the contract terms, were not disclosed.