US, South Korea aerospace firms announce emerging technology partnership

Asia-Pacific, News, US March 12, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin announced a new partnership between its venture portfolio company Red 6 Aerospace and South Korea’s KAI (Korea Aerospace Industries) that will deliver advanced 21st Century Security capabilities across a spectrum of training and combat aircraft.

According to the Lockheed Martin statement, the new partnership between U.S. and South Korean aerospace companies will initially bring Red 6’s “revolutionary augmented reality platform, the Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System (ATARS), into the TF-50 and variants”.

The ATARS system is initially targeted for the TF-50 aircraft and variants, it could eventually be applied to operational Lockheed Martin fighter jets, including F-16, F-22, and F-35.

“The system gives pilots and ground operators new capabilities to see and interact with synthetic threats in real-time, high-speed environments,” the statement highlighted.

Founder and CEO of Red 6 Aerospace, Daniel Robinson said, “Readiness and lethality are critical if our warfighters are to prevail against peer adversaries. Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries aircraft are ideal platforms for our Augmented Reality system. Advanced aircraft, together with ATARS technology, will deliver a paradigm shift in the quality, quantity, and cost of training future pilots.”

*^{Lockheed Martin Red 6 Aerospace Helmet. (Image Credit: Lockheed Martin)}*

In February 2023, U.S. Air Force requested information for a two-seater aircraft to cover three near-term missions including adversarial air support, tactical training, and serving as a tactical fighter surrogate. In response, Lockheed Martin submitted the TF-50A variant aircraft.

The TF-50A is configured as a light attack fighter/trainer with additional enhancements to include radar, electronic warfare system, tactical data link, and other capabilities to meet Air Combat Command requirements. The training variant of the aircraft reduces the learning curve for new pilots and gets them flying operational sorties faster.

Vice President and General Manager of Integrated Fighter Group at Lockheed Martin, OJ Sanchez said that the company seeks to leverage “emerging technologies to seamlessly and securely connect all assets in the joint battlespace and enable fast and decisive action.”

Sanchez further added that “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. One such example is this new partnership with Red 6, and we look forward to building advanced capabilities that support our customers’ needs”.