Lockheed Martin recently hosted seven innovative non-traditional companies and academic institutions to pitch new technologies designed to enhance the military capabilities of the U.S. Space Force. U.S. government and Lockheed Martin representatives were both in attendance at the event.
As part of the first Lockheed Martin Innovation Partners Pitch Day, the participating organizations brought forward ideas that could possibly improve the U.S. Space Force’s Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) space-based missile warning mission. OPIR technology is foundational to today’s Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), which currently protects the United States and our Allies, as well as to the Next Generation OPIR (Next Gen OPIR) system under development by Lockheed Martin. This mission has become more critical as ballistic missile technology has proliferated around the world with over 1,000 missile launches tracked annually.
The Lockheed Martin Innovation Partners Program is one of Lockheed Martin’s mechanisms to identify and incorporate valuable technology into the company’s ecosystem for insertion into current programs and future proposals. This event was the first of three Pitch Days planned for the year. Future Pitch Days will focus on identifying innovative new technologies that have the potential to improve performance of missions across the Lockheed Martin enterprise.
“Lockheed Martin is committed to partnering with the Space Force to ensure the OPIR Mission stays ahead of the threat by fostering innovative startups who can continuously introduce new technology into the mission,” said Tom McCormick, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for OPIR systems. “We believe that introducing new technology is the only way that we’ll stay ahead of the threat, and that this is an important initiative for government, industry and the mission.”