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The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded Lockheed Martin a 10-year contract to provide the British Army with uncrewed Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) services, including sophisticated targeting, and automated target and threat recognition enabled by the latest Artificial Intelligence technology.
The contract supports highly skilled jobs across multiple sites in the south west of the UK and will bring together leading Artificial Intelligence and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) technology partners based in the UK including Inzpire, Nordic Unmanned, and C3IA.
“This programme will bring a significant uncrewed technological advantage to the UK Armed Forces and be a key enabler in multi-domain integration, as well as create highly skilled jobs and increase the resilience of the industrial base,” said Paul Livingston, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UK.
The TIQUILA contract includes leadership from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®, bringing more than 60 years of UAS expertise and more than 80 years of pioneering solutions to the UK Armed Forces. Skunk Works will enhance the uncrewed systems Stalker VXE30 and Indago 4, which are already in use with the British Army. Skunk Works will also collaborate with the British Army on innovation, road mapping and technology scouting to increase industrial capacity and resilience, as well as develop new capabilities.
“As the global threat changes, its crucial we remain at the forefront of innovation, delivering cutting-edge capabilities to our deployed forces,” said Minister for Defence Procurement Alex Chalk KC.
“TIQUILA will bring the next generation of remotely piloted air systems into service in the Army. It will provide the means for the capability to remain at the leading edge of innovation allowing it to adapt to new threats,” said Brigadier Pete Drew, the British Army’s senior responsible owner for the TIQUILA programme.
“The Skunk Works team is honoured to support and partner with the British Army to modernise the UK military’s UAS fleet,” said Jacob Johnson, director of ISR and UAS systems at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. “This is an exciting opportunity for us to help meet the critical needs of our coalition partners.”
Lockheed Martin UK has operated in country for more than 80 years. From helping to build the UK’s first commercial spaceport to postal sorting technology, its helps solve some of the UK’s most complex challenges, contributing to national defence, security and prosperity. The F-35 programme alone, which provides stability and value vital to military partnerships with key allies around the world, will generate more than £40 billion pounds of gross value for the UK economy and sustain more than 20,000 British jobs between 2007 and 2038.
