Lockheed funds defence research

The grant will be used to fund two study projects that will investigate unmanned and autonomous systems. The first, Swarm Eye, will focus on sensors and information superiority, while a further project will research systems for situational awareness.

Prof Sir John O’Reilly, Cranfield University’s vice-chancellor, said: ‘We are honoured to have been selected to receive a Lockheed Martin corporate research grant. This provides further demonstration of the beneficial partnership between academia and industry, enabling research to be pursued and taken forward to achieve environmental and societal benefit.’

The projects, guided by Lockheed Martin UK, are hoped to lead to a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that will help troops on the front line.

Alan McCormick, Lockheed Martin UK vice-president and managing director, said: ‘It’s very important that we do what we can to nurture new talent and new thinking in engineering and working directly with universities is a great way to do this. Cranfield University has a world-class reputation in this field and we are happy to be able to help them with their important work.’