This is starting to become a bit of a trend for FOD detection systems, last year QinetiQ won this award for their Tarsier system, this year it’s the turn of Stratech’s iFerret. It’s great to see these innovative systems being rewarded, but unfortunately a bursting trophy cabinet will not provide much comfort when the sales book is empty. None of these systems have yet penetrated the market in any meaningful way, and maybe this award for “innovation” is actually pointing out one of the major barriers to sales. All the systems currently available are technically complex and innovative, and so far only a handful of airports have taken on the role of the “early adopter”.

Whether any of these systems will ever become mainstream is a good question. It’s been almost 10 years since the Concorde incident, and it’s that incident that first brought the issue of FOD to the attention of the public, but since then we have had 9/11, which shifted the focus of the airports to security, and then the miracle on the Hudson, which shifted it to the threat from bird strikes, and more recently another shift back to security with the desperate requirement to install full body scanners.

For many airports the FOD problem appears to be down the priority list, and it’s not entirely surprising. If you were to ask a passenger what he/she is most concerned about when boarding a plane: security, bird strikes, or FOD,  the answer you’ll get is obvious, “what’s FOD?” When you combine this lack of public (and therefore airport) interest with the technically complex nature of the systems available, it’s not surprising that we don’t see many FOD detection systems being sold. (more…)

Stratech press release

Singapore, 26 January 2010 – Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed Stratech Systems Limited (“Stratech” or “the Group”) today announced a strategic alliance with Itochu Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“Itochu”) to market Stratech’s iFerret™ intelligent Airfield/Runway Surveillance and Foreign Object and Debris (FOD) Detection System in Japan.

Under the agreement, Itochu will market, sell to and deploy, support iFerret™ at Japan Self Defense Force airbases as well as targeted commercial airports in Japan. Itochu is one of the largest global trading companies in Japan.

Besides operating as a FOD detection system, iFerret™ can be deployed at airbases to meet the military’s surveillance needs. Featuring its unique advanced intelligent Vision technology, iFerret™ is a pioneering system capable of Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) during war time for runway surface condition monitoring and to support rapid runway repair (RRR).

Regular human inspection or running of vehicles in a search pattern for hours along the runway is ineffective and dangerous during war time. iFerret™ utilises electro-optic sensors to automatically detect, locate, classify and record craters/unexploded ordnance in the airbase. The timely and accurate assessment of damage to the airfield/runway resulting from the application of military force is critical as it allows the re-planning of flight landing/take-off and the prioritization of runway repair.

“We are delighted to appoint Itochu as our value-added reseller for Stratech’s state-of-the-art iFerret™ system. Itochu’s strong foothold in Japan offers Stratech tremendous leverage in penetrating the market for Battle Damage Assessment and FOD Detection Systems,” said Dr. David K.M. Chew, Executive Chairman of Stratech.

iFerret™ is currently in operation at Singapore Changi Airport for FOD detection. Concurrently, iFerret™ is being piloted at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the second busiest airport in the world, to monitor both the runway and taxiway.

Stratech press release:

Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed Stratech Systems Limited (“Stratech”) today announced that it has received a purchase order for the deployment of its iFerret™ intelligent Airfield/Runway Surveillance and Foreign Object and Debris (FOD) Detection System at an airport in Europe.

iFerret™ will be implemented at an airport in Europe to monitor FOD on the taxiway and apron – the world’s first apron deployment for FOD detection. The apron is the area where aircraft are parked, loaded/unloaded, refueled or boarded by passengers, while the taxiway links the runway to different areas of the airport.

Dr. David K.M. Chew, Executive Chairman of Stratech, said: “FOD events do not occur only on runways. According to the UK Civil Aviation Administration, FOD events occur mostly on the apron (55%), followed by taxiway (30%) and runway (15%). Although fatality of FOD incidents is acknowledged on the runway, there is a need to manage occurrences on the apron and taxiway where FOD is much more frequent.”