Lockheed Martin Systems Hit R&D Milestones



By Priya Potapragada



Lockheed Martin announced three of their systems, the Indago vertical takeoff and landing quadrotor, its handheld ground control station and a new commercial avionics suite are now ready for operation. 



The Indago VTOL, along with the GCS and avionics suite, will support various Lockheed Martin unmanned systems, including the Desert Hawk III small UAS, the rail-launched Fury UAS and the K-MAX cargo resupply UAS.



"After two years of developing these capabilities, we will now be able to deliver affordable and effective products to both military and commercial customers," says Kevin Westfall, director of unmanned solutions at Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems and Training business. "The Indago VTOL, handheld GCS and advanced dommercial avionics suite will provide mobility and high accuracy for a range of missions now and in the future."



The compact Indago VTOL folds up, needs no assembly and reaches ranges of up to five kilometers for up to 45 minutes when operated using the handheld GCS. The VTOL is able to pan 360 degrees for area surveillance and provide enhanced situational awareness and imagery in support of emergency response, search and rescue situations, disaster relief, and other surveillance missions. The handheld GCS, which runs for four hours, can be used with Indago and as a solo system with other aircraft.