Lockheed to continue DARPA work

Lockheed Martin Corp. is developing technology designed to keep pilots safe while flying over battlefields. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has approved the project to enter phase two of development and awarded Lockheed Martin a one-year, $5.2 million contract.

The technology is called the Generalized Integrated Learning Architecture. It is designed to automate one of the tools for managing airspace being used by manned and unmanned aircraft.

Air operation centers use Airspace Control Orders to help manage airspace. Improper orders endanger pilots. Lockheed Martin's Learning Architecture will help create orders by automatically learning flight planners' tasks from experts.

The technology could extend to other planning processes and make it safer for the Air Force to rapidly use a large number of manned and unmanned aircraft.

Successful testing of the first phase of the technology led to the phase two award. Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Laboratories will expand the technology in phase two to include more aspects of military air operations. Developers also hope to extend the technology's learning and reasoning capability so it can equal the performance of a human novice, with a final goal of exceeding human performance.

Lockheed Martin's team includes the University of Maryland, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech Research Institute, University of Illinois, Arizona State University, University of Massachusetts, University of Wyoming, Oregon State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Fujitsu Laboratories of America.

Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., ranks No. 1 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.