An Australian-developed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system has been selected by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, to undergo a testing and development program.
Melbourne’s Sentient Vision Systems (Sentient) has been awarded a contract to further test and develop the ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) system that could see the Australian capability integrated with the sensor suites on the MH-60R Seahawk.
Lockheed Martin will work with Sentient to further evolve the capability of the ViDAR system, which is a persistent wide area motion imaging (WAMI) system that is designed to autonomously detect, geo-locate, track and classify objects over vast areas of terrain below an aircraft or UAS.
Joe North, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Australia and NZ congratulated Sentient on the development of the ViDAR system.
“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,” North said.
Paul Boxer, Managing Director of Sentient Vision Systems, welcomed Lockheed Martin’s contract award.
“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,” Boxer said. “We look forward to working closely with their engineers to complete the testing, development and integration validation phases for the system.”
Sentient Vision Systems has had success with Lockheed Martin in the past through the Kestrel detection software, which was successfully trialled in the MH-60R Software Integration Lab for consideration of future MH-60R capability enhancements.
ViDAR is currently used by many agencies and forces including the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, RAN and the US Coast Guard for a broad range of search missions.