Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), the U.S. Air Force and the F-35 Joint Program Office have began the integration of an anti-collision technology into the service branch’s F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets.
The government-industry team fielded the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System seven years earlier than planned by using an agile development, contracting and testing approach, Lockheed said Wednesday.
The company originally developed Auto-GCAS for the F-16 aircraft in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA. The system is designed to warn pilots of imminent impact with the program’s geolocation, terrain mapping and automated tools.
F-35B and F-35C aircraft will also use Auto-GCAS in the near future.
“The safe and effective acceleration of this technology is a testament to the joint government and industry team partnering in an agile environment to deliver life-saving capability to our men and women in uniform, significantly sooner than planned,” said Greg Ulmer, vice president and general manager of the F-35 program at Lockheed.
