MARSS passes major milestone in multi-site defence project in the middle east

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MARSS passes major milestone in multi-site defence project in the middle east
by Staff Writers
London, UK (SPX) May 26, 2023

MARSS has successfully completed the second Site Acceptance Test (SAT) for its flagship 5-year, $50 million multi-site programme - a major milestone in a wider project that will see the company deliver key defence solutions across nine sites.

Once complete, the multi-site security programme will protect a series of nine critical infrastructure sites across the Middle East, all networked into a centralised national command centre.

The security systems installed by MARSS at each of the unique sites will be built around MARSS's proprietary hybrid intelligence system, NiDAR, a Joint Area Domain Command and Control solution, integrating a range of different sensors and effectors, protecting against manned and unmanned threats, such as UAS, USV and UUVs.

NiDAR fuses artificial intelligence (AI) alongside traditional algorithmic techniques and human driven domain expertise to create a single, intelligent user interface that maximises the performance of individual sensors and effectors.

At its latest site, MARSS will use a combination of multi-domain-layered systems protecting against underwater, surface and air threats. This will include different types of radars, cameras and sonar systems to provide short-to-medium-range protection across the site, and electronic countermeasures. These all integrate into NiDAR, along with legacy base defence systems, providing a single tactical surveillance picture.

MARSS has expanded its Riyadh based operations from just a handful of employees to over 40 project managers, engineers, technicians and support personnel in just three years. MARSS is well placed to deliver and support defence, safety and surveillance programmes such as these across the Middle East.

During the acceptance test, the NiDAR system demonstrated successful detection and tracking of surface and air threats with various radar cross sections, proprietary AI-based classification and successful threat defeat countermeasures. Employing AI into a fully integrated end-to-end solution, MARSS's systems were able to dramatically reduce the decision cycle to better protect assets against threats at greater ranges, with better performance and lower false alarm rates than ever before.

Andy Forbes, Managing Director at MARSS said: "Successfully passing this Site 2 SAT is hugely significant and a major new milestone for the project. After a quick start, the programme faced a series of challenges, not least the restrictions put in place to avoid the spread of Covid-19, but we're now excited to be completing the scope of these base defence programme in 2023."

As a prime contractor, this is one of several programmes of record that MARSS is delivering across the ME region that includes training and through life Integrated Logistic Support.

Forbes added: "We have built a team of experienced professionals and young engineers to transfer knowledge and capability to support the vision of each of our clients across the region. Delivering and supporting operational capability on a 24/7 basis in extreme environments is not without its challenges. However, supported by a world class team of industry partners, MARSS is able to commission some of the most capable base protection systems in the region if not the world."