Limpid Armor Will Provide Five LPMK Kits for Further Evaluation

Trials were conducted at the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ proving ground in the Lviv region, on 4 December, of Limpid Armor’s Land Platform Modernization Kit (LPMK) installed on a BTR-4E infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), the company announced on 6 December.

The LPMK is an enhanced situational awareness (SA) system that consists of several cameras and sensors, a server and a military-grade helmet with the Microsoft HOLOLENS integrated into it. The Cameras, installed on the perimeter of an armoured vehicle, provide a video feed that is ‘stitched’ into a 360° panoramic view that provides, in effect, a ‘see-through armour’ functionality on the move. Salient information can be overlaid on the glasses, including map position, speed and other telemetry data as well as friend or foe identification.

The idea behind the LPMK is to improve the efficiency and survivability within armoured units, thereby increasing the chances for successful mission accomplishment and safe return of the crew. Currently, LPMK works as a tool that significantly enhances crew capabilities, but the company’s further ambitions involve directing development towards achieving fully robotic armoured vehicles in the foreseeable future, adaptable to the challenges and evolving requirements of the information era and modern warfare. The December trials, in which the vehicle driver operated the vehicle in a ‘fully closed-down’ configuration, effectively using only the LPMK system for navigation, is only the first stage in the “full transformation of the battle experience” the company intends to provide for its customers, according to a 6 December statement. Five additional LPMKs are due to be supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces in 2020, with a view to evaluating the ability to operate the system simultaneously on multiple vehicles.

Limpid Armor, a high-tech company specialised in artificial intelligence, computer vision, augmented reality and robotics, is the only Ukrainian company that participates in the NATO Science & Technology AVT-290 Standardization of Augmented Reality for Land Platforms in Combat Environments Working Group.

“It was a huge success for us to get to this stage of trials. It is, indeed, an important step that highlights an increased interest to our technology from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We expect the initial feedback after these trials and we will be transferring a few more units for further testing on BTR-4E IFVs,” commented company CEO Mykhailo Grechukhin.