Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Tuesday said it is partnering with Korea Aerospace Industries
(KAI) and the augmented reality developer Red 6 Aerospace to bring an airborne augmented reality system initially into the TF-50 light combat fighter/trainer aircraft to provide a lower cost, real-time training environment for pilots at high speeds.
The partnership will take advantage of Red 6’s Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System (ATARS) with the initial focus being the T-50 and variants of the supersonic aircraft, with the potential to add the system to current Lockheed Martin aircraft such as the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighters.
The ATARS combines Red 6’s enhanced visual environment headset and its software to apply the augmented reality solution to outdoor, dynamic environments.
Lockheed Martin Ventures, the venture capital arm of Lockheed Martin, is a strategic investor in Red 6. Lockheed Martin said the partnership with Red 6 is bearing fruit by bringing advanced capabilities to meet customers’ needs.
“Our vision is to help our customers leverage emerging technologies to seamlessly and securely connect all assets in the joint battlespace and enable fast and decisive action,” OJ Sanchez, vice president and general manager, integrated fighter group at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement. “Lockheed Martin has made significant advances across the board in digital engineering and open architectures during the past few years, as well as strategic partnerships. These are enabling us to accelerate development, production, upgrades, responsiveness and sustainment across our platforms.
KAI developed the T-50 with Lockheed Martin. The companies bid for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer program, which was ultimately won by a team of Boeing [BA] and Saab.
Lockheed Martin said it has submitted the T-50A variant in response to an Air Force Request for Information for a two-seat aircraft to meet the near-term missions of tactical training, adversarial air support and a tactical fighter surrogate. The T-50A is a light attack/trainer with radar, electronic warfare system, tactical data link, and other capabilities to meet Air Force Air Combat Command requirements, the company said.