Lockheed Martin UK and IAI aim to promote joint GBAD solution

Lockheed Martin UK and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) on 21 March announced a partnership agreement for the joint global promotion of a GBAD system combining SkyKeeper and the Barak MX system.

This development follows an MoU between the two companies in July 2021 and a review of ‘relevant business opportunities’, IAI noted in a statement.

Whereas traditional GBAD systems were designed to detect large airborne platforms, the threat picture today is more complex with small UAVs and loitering munitions.

To address these challenges, Lockheed Martin developed SkyKeeper as a flexible and adaptable Battle Management Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (BMC4I) solution.

SkyKeeper can be integrated with any type of effector, kinetic or non-kinetic, from missiles to jammers. It has been a core part of the UK MoD Land Environment Air Picture Provision programme since 2014 and traces its heritage to the British Army’s Automated Sense and Warn (AS&W) system.

Barak MX is the latest in a family of SAM systems from IAI, beginning with the Barak 1 shipborne point-defence system that entered service in the 1990s.

Barak MX brings a mix of capabilities with similar types of missiles to address a variety of different types of targets from very low range missiles to ballistic missiles.

The Barak MX comprises medium-, long- and extended-range interceptor versions with effective ranges of 35km, 70km and 150km respectively. More than 40 operational tests of the missile system have been conducted against a spectrum of targets, from both land and sea.

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

Skykeeper

Barak MX