Stratech Systems (www.stratechsystems.com) has announced the formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on tapping new markets in airfield/runway surveillance solutions. The new subsidiary, Stratech Aerospace, will offer solutions based on the company's award-winning iFerret airfield/runway surveillance and foreign object and debris (FOD) detection system, to the potentially huge market of over 3,800 International Air Transport Association-listed airports.

The incorporation of Stratech Aerospace dovetails with the "powered by Stratech" strategy announced by Stratech in March to commercialise its intellectual properties - such as iFerret - through licensing, alliances and strategic joint ventures. In line with this, Stratech Systems has appointed SITA, the world's leading air transport communications and IT solutions provider, as its global value-added reseller for the iFerret system.

A new subsidiary, Stratech Aerospace, will focus on tapping new markets in airfield/runway surveillance solutions.

iFerret has been deployed at Singapore's Changi Airport since July 2008. Under the latest agreement, SITA will market, sell and deploy the system at the commercial airports operated by its members or customers. Four airport runways are targeted for the first year, with another 12 targeted for the subsequent year.

SITA provides communications services across a global network spanning over 220 countries and territories and supporting more than 1,800 customers. "The collaboration between Stratech and SITA is a win-win arrangement for both parties to penetrate the untapped market for foreign object detection. SITA provides the domain expertise and global access to the air transport industry, while Stratech offers their proven creativity and innovation in iFerret," said Mr Lim Soon Hock, an Independent Director of Stratech who brought the two companies together.

Incidents arising from FOD on runways cost the aerospace industry an estimated US$4 billion in aircraft repairs and maintenance annually. Mr Bruno Frentzel, Senior Vice President, Application Services, of SITA, noted that foreign objects and debris on runways are not only a major safety issue but also cause flight delays.

Stratech's system will help minimise flight disruption, improve safety and aircraft landing slot yield at airports, he said. "By reducing damage to the aircraft blades which impacts engine efficiency, the iFerret system will also help airlines to reduce their fuel bills and carbon footprint."

iFerret is the world's first intelligent Vision-based system that detects, analyses and identifies FOD in real-time. It is scalable to airport runways and taxiways of any length, and can be deployed on airport aprons, hangars, and even aircraft carriers. In 2006, the system was awarded the Research and Development prize at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards in Macau.