Melbourne’s Sentient Vision Systems has been awarded a contract to further test and develop ViDAR – its innovative wide area motion imaging (WAMI) surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system.
The contract, awarded to Sentient by Lockheed Martin’s subsidiary Sikorsky, will see the two companies work together to further evolve the capability of ViDAR, which is currently used by many agencies and forces, including the Royal Australian Navy and the US Coast Guard, for a broad range of missions including search and rescue, illegal fishing, counter narcotics and maritime security.
Joe North, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand congratulated Sentient on the development of the ViDAR system that could see the cutting-edge Australian capability integrated with the sensor suites on the MH-60R Seahawk.
“Lockheed Martin Australia’s approach of incubating innovation and growing SME capability is helping to create the conditions and the opportunities to build both capability and operational resilience needed for companies like Sentient to be able to compete on the world stage, and in this case with the world’s most advanced maritime helicopter,” Mr North said.
“Sentient Vision Systems is a global leader in ISR technology solutions and we are proud to have had a long association, initially through R&D integration and testing of their Kestrel detection software for future rotary capability and potentially now with ViDAR as well.”
Paul Boxer, Managing Director, Sentient Vision Systems welcomed Lockheed Martin’s contract award to explore the potential for the ViDAR system.
“We are excited about the potential for ViDAR to be integrated with sensor suites across Lockheed Martin’s MH-60R Seahawk platforms globally as this represents a significant opportunity for Sentient,” Mr Boxer continued.
“We look forward to working closely with their engineers to complete the testing, development and integration validation phases for the system.
“Australia has world-class innovators, but it is through partnerships with global technology companies like Lockheed Martin that Australian industry can realise global export opportunities for cutting-edge solutions.”
