Lockheed Martin has identified a possible new business model
in the global market for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)
aircraft: leasing platforms that carry reconfigurable suites of
multi-intelligence payloads.
The strategy is based on Lockheed's airborne multi-intelligence laboratory, a company-owned Gulfstream III (G-III) modified to carry three sensors - electro-optical/infrared cameras, low- and high-band signals receivers and a synthetic aperture radar - and an on-board processing system.
Lockheed officials previously advertised the aircraft as simply a testbed. US and foreign militaries could pay Lockheed to experiment with unfamiliar techniques, such as using the signals intelligence system to cue the camera onto a potential target.
But Lockheed also now sees the platform possibly ushering a very different kind of business model for a traditional defence contractor.
"We are also investigating the possibility of offering the AML as an ISR platform that customers can lease to meet their ISR needs," Jim Quinn, a Lockheed vice president. "We would reconfigure the aircraft to meet the customer's specific requirements, then lease the aircraft for a period of time to that customer."
Quinn also said the system could be installed on different platforms, ranging at the high end from Gulfstream 550s and Bombardier Q400w with roughly 9,070kg (20,000lb) payload capacity to Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350s with roughly 900kg payloads.
The strategy could expand Lockheed's original concept beyond the laboratory stage and into the operational arena. Several smallUS Afghanistan
and Iraq
Lockheed plans to partner with such companies to broker aircraft for the leasing deals, taking advantage of their lower overhead and existing relationships, Quinn said. In turn, Lockheed would provide the multi-intelligence suites and perform the integration on the aircraft, he added.
The US Army signed a $2 billion deal in 2004 to acquire the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS), but the contract with Lockheed was terminated two years later after the multi-intelligence sensor payload outgrew the capacity of the selected platform, a modified Embraer ERJ-145.
The strategy is based on Lockheed's airborne multi-intelligence laboratory, a company-owned Gulfstream III (G-III) modified to carry three sensors - electro-optical/infrared cameras, low- and high-band signals receivers and a synthetic aperture radar - and an on-board processing system.
Lockheed video
Lockheed officials previously advertised the aircraft as simply a testbed. US and foreign militaries could pay Lockheed to experiment with unfamiliar techniques, such as using the signals intelligence system to cue the camera onto a potential target.
But Lockheed also now sees the platform possibly ushering a very different kind of business model for a traditional defence contractor.
"We are also investigating the possibility of offering the AML as an ISR platform that customers can lease to meet their ISR needs," Jim Quinn, a Lockheed vice president. "We would reconfigure the aircraft to meet the customer's specific requirements, then lease the aircraft for a period of time to that customer."
Quinn also said the system could be installed on different platforms, ranging at the high end from Gulfstream 550s and Bombardier Q400w with roughly 9,070kg (20,000lb) payload capacity to Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350s with roughly 900kg payloads.
The strategy could expand Lockheed's original concept beyond the laboratory stage and into the operational arena. Several small
Lockheed plans to partner with such companies to broker aircraft for the leasing deals, taking advantage of their lower overhead and existing relationships, Quinn said. In turn, Lockheed would provide the multi-intelligence suites and perform the integration on the aircraft, he added.
The US Army signed a $2 billion deal in 2004 to acquire the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS), but the contract with Lockheed was terminated two years later after the multi-intelligence sensor payload outgrew the capacity of the selected platform, a modified Embraer ERJ-145.
on October 15, 2009 5:12 AM | Reply
Stories like that make the ITAR hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
And Stephen, can we use "reconnaissance aircraft" or similar in such story headlines in an industry blog? Using overdone terms like "spy plane" is something I'd expect from USA Today or Newsweek . . .
on October 15, 2009 11:48 AM | Reply
Tim, Absolutely not! 'Reconnaissance aircraft' is for my stuffy pals at Aviation Week. Flight calls 'em spy planes (at least in headlines), and that's what they are.
on October 15, 2009 7:08 PM | Reply
A rose by any other name....................