Lockheed Martin demos airborne border surveillance
Lockheed Martin has demonstrated advanced border surveillance capabilities from an optionally piloted vehicle, in order to show how traditional defence-focused integrated airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities can be quickly adapted to address dynamic border protection as well as maritime search and rescue needs.
The demonstration was carried out during a recent European exercise to help evaluate how optionally piloted vehicles or unmanned vehicles can further enhance border surveillance in the maritime domain. According to a company statement, Lockheed Martin demonstrated ‘how quickly optionally piloted vehicles could collect intelligence on suspicious activity or detect boats in distress, then immediately send imagery, streaming video and other gathered intelligence to a ground station’.
According to the company, the demonstration used a Diamond Airborne Sensing aircraft equipped with a FLIR Electro Optical/InfraRed camera and a robust communications suite. The aircraft collected high definition video and imagery over several flights, and captured information was then transmitted to a ground system via both line of sight and beyond line of sight communications, providing users on the ground with better situational understanding and broader knowledge of the immediate environment. In near real-time, ground station analysts were able to view the data, then update situational awareness displays for all users in the enterprise. Lockheed Martin's team also demonstrated how to share situational awareness pictures with a wide range of display technologies, ranging from computers to handheld devices.
The Lockheed Martin team included Diamond Aircraft Industries, Scotty Group, Inmarsat, FLIR Government Systems, FAST Protect AG and Broadcast Microwave Services, Inc.
More from Digital Battlespace
-
Clavister contracted to supply cyber protection for CV90s
Clavister CyberArmour, an integrated defence cybersecurity system, will be used on BAE Systems Hägglunds’ CV90 platform in deployments with a Scandinavian country, as well as in an eastern European nation.
-
Lockheed Martin completes tactical satellite demonstration and prepares for launch
The tactical satellite (TacSat) is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system and will participate in exercises in 2025.
-
AUSA 2024: General Micro Systems adds four new products to the X9 Spider family
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
-
BAE Systems gets go-ahead for second phase of mission communications programme
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
-
Just Released: Space Technology Report
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
-
Work-from-home warfare: the power of mixed reality
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.