Kongsberg Geospatial and MartinUAV partner to provide real-time ISR Drone Solutions for the Canadian defence and security market.

Kongsberg Geospatial, an Ottawa-based aerospace and defense geospatial technology company, and MartinUAV of Plano, Texas, a world-leading developer of disruptive UAV technologies, announced today that they have teamed to pursue integrated Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance solutions for the Royal Canadian Navy and CANSOFCOM.

A drone operator guides a Martin UAV V-Bat drone as it lands on the deck of a frigate after a night mission (Picture source: Martin UAV)

The Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS UxS system integrates multiple disparate, real-time sensor feeds to create a highly accurate battlespace common operating picture and provides real-time calculation of aircraft separation, airspace monitoring alerts and communications line-of-sight prediction to also enable detect and avoid for safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.

IRIS UxS provides a mission management system that combines NATO STANAG-4585 compliant flight controls with sensor data analysis tools and storage – enabling after-action review and providing what the intelligence analysis community calls a “Level 0-3 PED” (Processing Exploitation, and Dissemination) solution for managing mission sensor data gathered by the UAS.

The MartinUAV V-Bat is a truly disruptive UAS technology that combines zero-footprint VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) Performance with long endurance fixed wing aerodynamic efficiency. This game-changing technology enables a truly expeditionary UAS that can be launched and recovered with no ground equipment in under 20 minutes while also enabling long endurance missions.

The V-Bat is a small-to-medium sized UAS (military Group 2/3) that can carry up to a 8-pound sensor package (with max endurance fuel onboard), and is unique because drones of this size generally require a large area for take-offs and landings, while the V-Bat doesn’t. The MartinUAV V-Bat was one of the two initial platforms down-selected to compete for US Army Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS) development contest.

“The V-Bat is ideally suited for upcoming opportunities within the Royal Canadian Navy and CANSOFCOM. They have similar requirements for zero-footprint VTOL flexibility but also long endurance ISR missions” says Heath Niemi, Vice-President of Global Sales, MartinUAV. “Our partnership combines Kongsberg Geospatial’s expertise in UxS mission management with the disruptive technology V-Bat to provide Canadian customers with a tailored ISR capability to meet their unique requirements.”

“We’re very pleased to be working with a world-leading UAS innovator like MartinUAV” said Ranald McGillis, President of Kongsberg Geospatial. “Their technology truly is game-changing and will allow a wide variety of missions to be conducted by a single flexible platform. This is an ideal and complementary fit for our ground control station and mission management technology."