Gyrocam's Sanborn revels in a victory

The news that giant global defense contractor Lockheed Martin reached a deal to buy Gyrocam Systems, one of Sarasota's rising corporate stars, is a major vindication for local entrepreneur Ken Sanborn.

The deal, announced July 22 for an undisclosed amount, is a clear signal that the big boys of the defense industry believe in Gyrocam's core product — a high-tech, powerful camera that can be stabilized up to 30 feet above a vehicle to help battleground troops detect roadside bombs and other hazardous situations before detonation.

“It's great and gratifying to realize that the company you started and built by hanging on by your fingernails has this opportunity,” Sanborn tells the Review of the company he founded from personal savings in 2000. “Now we can go further and do more.”

While Sanborn now lauds Lockheed Martin, a $42.7 billion publicly traded company, he was of a slightly different mind five years ago, when he first conceived of the idea to use his company's cameras for life-saving military applications. Back then, Gyrocam's focus was on selling the company's gyro-stabilized cameras to law enforcement agencies to be mounted on helicopters.