Lockheed Martin announced that it will invest $8 million in two-year contracts with five small and medium-sized Norwegian companies to develop new aviation and defense solutions with potential in the global market.
According to Dennis Goege, Lockheed’s chief executive in Europe for global business development and strategy, the company is tapping advanced Norwegian technology expertise to provide enhanced flight and mission readiness to the military and commercial markets. “Strategic investments and partnerships with companies around the world allow us to pioneer advancements while driving local capability and economic growth,” he said.
Drone-Focused Collaboration
Two of Lockheed’s Norwegian partnerships focus on unmanned aerial systems. One with Alva Industries is geared toward looking into a new drone line with interchangeable propellers for specialized missions, while another effort is with UBIQ Aerospace on a UAS rotorcraft with protection against icing, requiring minimal maintenance.
In its partnership with Empact, the defense and aerospace manufacturer will pursue a general aviation-oriented solution involving a photography process with an artificial intelligence/machine learning capability to check aircraft damage and recommend repair options for uncovered faults.
Other aviation partnerships include those with Mode Sensors on pilot hydration monitoring and cockpit simulator systems interface testing, evaluation and improvement, and Jotne Connect on the development of an efficient management platform for long-term storage and business-to-business collaboration.