LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - SRT Marine Systems has completed the first phase of a national coast guard maritime surveillance system contract, it announced on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm announced the contract in January last year, with the project being worth a total of £40m.

It said the completed phase was signed off in March after extensive testing, with the contract now moving to the next two phases, which would be worth a total of £24m including taxes.

The next phases were expected to start in the summer, with implementation taking around one year.

SRT said the SRT-MDA System, which was now fully operational and in daily use by the customer, uses "advanced Dynamic-Ai technology" to automatically detect and alert the Coast Guard to illegal maritime activities, such as smuggling, unlicensed fishing, maritime border incursions, and potential threats to critical infrastructure, such as undersea pipelines.

That information allows the customer to operate based on high-quality marine intelligence, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

The completion of the first phase of the project represented a "significant milestone" in the development of the national maritime surveillance system, the SRT board said.

It added that the system would be built up in a series of contracts over several years, with SRT Marine providing surveillance, security, safety, and environmental protection services and technologies.

"This significant national Coast Guard customer has a very ambitious long-term plan to build up a sophisticated integrated maritime surveillance system," said chief executive officer Simon Tucker.

"This will be achieved through a series of multiple contracts spanning many years."

Tucker said such projects of national scale were "highly challenging and complex", with the successful completion of the first phase to "such a demanding customer" a testament to the SRT-MDA System product and the capabilities of the company.

"We now move on to deliver the next phases of this important project."

At 1150 BST, shares in SRT Marine Systems were up 5.6% at 44.35p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE