The multi-sensor system includes forward-looking infrared (FLIR), TV and a long-range variant of existing LADAR sensors, neatly integrated into a single 15-inch turret. The system is designed to conduct wide-area searches and identify actual or potential threats, including targets partially obscured by camouflage or foliage. Additionally, the system can be operated in a high resolution terrain mapping mode.

"We have built upon our mature LADAR sensor capability that has already proven itself, over multiple missile free flights and in hundreds of captive flight hours, to create an advanced sensor that provides high-resolution reconnaissance in a variety of situations," said Gil Metzger, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control's director of Research and Technology.

"This advanced sensor, combined with Lockheed Martin's sensor fusion algorithms, will provide the warfighter with more accurate situational understanding because of its long-range, high-resolution, three-dimensional capabilities. In addition to combat reconnaissance, we are exploring additional applications, such as disaster recovery and homeland security."

This LADAR sensor and planned variants have short- and long-range capabilities from less than one kilometer to as far as 20 kilometers. The sensor system can be packaged to make it suitable for integration aboard manned or unmanned aerial vehicles. It will provide reliable performance under a wide variety of conditions.

"It is our passion for invention that drives us to provide a system that does not merely collect data or provide some situational awareness, but actually comprehends the data it collects," Metzger added.

"Its real-time Automatic Target Recognition algorithms have been proven through independent testing to provide outstanding target identifications with virtually no false alarms. This system can provide customers such as the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security with a powerful, lower-cost, multi-sensor LADAR system that will improve situational understanding in a number of scenarios."

Lockheed Martin has a family of proven LADAR sensors that range from very short-range navigation systems to missile seekers to long-range reconnaissance assets.

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