A vigilant “Dragon Shield” airborne surveillance system developed by Lockheed Martin for the Finnish Defence Forces has achieved final operational capability.
The milestone was achieved after the final flight test of the system, which evaluated compliance of the aircraft to civilian and military airworthiness requirements as well as system requirements verification.
Lockheed Martin’s team modified an Airbus CASA C-295 cargo aircraft to accommodate a containerised surveillance system that rolls on and off the aircraft. A key attribute of this system is an open, modular architecture that enables future upgrades to be easily added.
This approach ensures an up-to-date system throughout the life cycle using an innovative technology road mapping process. In addition to the reconfigured aircraft, Lockheed Martin provided the Finnish Defence Forces with ground stations and communications terminals to support the airborne system.
Dr. Rob Smith, Vice President of C4ISR Systems for Lockheed Martin, said: “Working in unison with our customer, we provided an innovative system that fulfils their dynamic requirements. We worked with Finnish industry to maximise industry participation to ensure that the system can be maintained in-country.”
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