IMSAR LLC has received a strategic investment from private equity firm OceanSound Partners to support the expansion of its radar and Radio Frequency (RF) sensing portfolio amid growing demand for autonomous and counter-autonomous systems.
IMSAR’s technology provides all-weather, day-and-night imaging, moving target indication, and change detection across wide areas in conditions that degrade optical and infrared sensors. The company’s NSP-series radars, onboard processing, and Lisa 3D mission software are integrated on more than 100 unmanned and manned platforms worldwide. Supported aircraft span Group 2 through Group 5 unmanned systems—including the Shield AI V-BAT, AV Jump 20, Textron Aerosonde, Tekever AR3 and AR5, Insitu ScanEagle, and Integrator—as well as light manned Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft.
Nearly all underlying technology, from the electronically scanned antenna to the Lisa 3D operator software, is developed internally. The compact, pod-mounted radar payloads install through a single connector carrying power, Ethernet, and navigation data, avoiding the need for custom radomes or airframe modifications and allowing removal or exchange within minutes.
Joe Benavides, CEO and Founder of OceanSound Partners, said, “IMSAR has built something rare: technology that is genuinely hard to replicate, proven in the field, delivered by a team that operators trust. IMSAR’s RF surveillance solutions are well positioned to address critical U.S. Department of War priorities, including the Department’s Drone Dominance program, delivering lower-cost and high performance autonomous and counter autonomous solutions at scale and quickly to better manage threats from U.S. adversaries. OceanSound has spent years investing behind the companies modernizing how defense customers sense and understand their environment, and IMSAR is among the most impressive we have encountered. We are proud to partner with Ryan and the entire IMSAR team, and we look forward to helping them build on their differentiated drone-focused technology developed over more than twenty years.”
With OceanSound’s support, IMSAR plans to invest in radar performance, next-generation product development, and manufacturing and commercial infrastructure to accelerate speed-to-field and scalable production. Drawing on two decades of operational small-form-factor radar collections, the company will apply machine learning to continuously improve its models for automatic target recognition, change detection, and target classification, while expanding AI-enabled capabilities built on its Lisa 3D software platform.
Over time, IMSAR aims to expand its offerings into broader multi-mission RF sensing through internal development and acquisitions of complementary sensing and AI-enabled exploitation technologies, while remaining an open, platform-agnostic partner to unmanned aircraft manufacturers.
Ryan Smith, CEO and Founder of IMSAR, added, “Our purpose is to give operators a clear picture when nothing else can see. We talk about democratizing radar, and what we mean is simple: a capability that used to require a large, expensive aircraft now flies on something a small team can launch from a ship or the back of a truck. Everything this company has built has come from our engineers, technicians and field teams spending time with the people who fly these missions, watching what fails, and fixing it. We chose OceanSound because they understand that the mission and the engineering come first, they know this market and the people in it, and they have built businesses like ours before.”
Ryan Smith, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IMSAR, will continue to lead the company and retain a significant ownership interest alongside the management team.
Ted Shanahan, Partner at OceanSound Partners, commented, “OceanSound was built to partner with founder-led technology companies at exactly this moment, when the capability is proven and the opportunity in front of them is larger than what they can serve today. We are investing in commercial reach, in the software and analytics layer, and in added capability across the sensing portfolio. The people who built this company are the reason we are here, and we are investing behind them.”
Advising on the transaction, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP acted as legal advisor to OceanSound. Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as exclusive financial advisor and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP served as legal advisor to IMSAR.
Visit IMSAR at AUSA 2026, October 12–14 in Washington, D.C., at Booth 1767 in Hall ABC.
