WESTBOROUGH, Mass., 30 July 2007.Lockheed Martin has selected RemoteReality Corporation's intelligent-omni-video systems for persistent situational awareness to integrate into the company's Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FIAC) Defense System. Lockheed Martin's proof-of-concept FIAC Defense System extends the defensive perimeter of most naval vessels out to five miles to counter the globally emerging threat of small attack boat swarms.
"RemoteReality is one of several private companies collaborating with Lockheed Martin to develop the FIAC Defense System and provide the U.S. Navy and allied nations with enhanced protection against this growing threat," says Dr. James Ionson, RemoteReality's CEO. "Our intelligent-omni-video systems enable the FIAC Defense System to fully monitor a ship's perimeter around the clock."
With support from the U.S. Navy, a Lockheed Martin-led industry team has developed the FIAC Defense System to augment the Navy's current approach by integrating new sensors, weapons, and decision support systems with innovative command-and-control elements. These combined systems extend the range needed to identify the intent of an approaching craft.
"This enables host ships to detect, identify, verify hostility and, if necessary, target small boat threats," says George Root, advanced systems director at Lockheed Martin's Littoral Ships & Systems business unit in Baltimore, which leads the team. "Once a threat has been verified as hostile, the FIAC Defense System can engage the attacking craft with a layered array of appropriate lethal and non-lethal responses as they penetrate the system's five-mile defensive perimeter."
During the upcoming 2007 development phase, the FIAC Defense System will prove its capability with system level testing, including at-sea operations on a U.S. Navy test range with live laser designation and both air-to-surface and surface-to-surface firings of several missile types against maneuvering target boats in multiple FIAC threat scenarios.
