By Geoff Fein
Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully demonstrated a new Extreme Short Range (ESR) mode for its family of SPY-1 naval radars that will extend the coverage radius to support helicopter approach control, enhances small surface target detection and performance in the littorals, a company official said.
Lockheed Martin had been considering the idea of an ESR mode for its SPY-1 radar for a while, Lee Gross, program manager for the Norwegian Frigate program, told Defense Daily yesterday.
“We decided to do some testing at our production test facility in Moorestown. We just took an available unit that just happened to be the last of the Norwegian configured ships…that is the SPY-1F,” he said. “We took that and altered that to see if we could implement and demonstrate the capability of the ESR mode.”
About a year ago, engineers at Lockheed Martin’s Moorestown, N.J., facility did some drawing, had some meetings and decided ESR was feasible. Equipment was brought in and personnel designed a non-end item configuration at the test site, Gross added.
“We have done some testing in a non-end item configuration that did prove to be very successful, though,” he said.
The primary driver for ESR came from the Norwegian navy’s interest in helicopter support control for their organic helicopters to land on board frigates, Don Smith, technical director for the Norwegian Frigate program, told Defense Daily during the same interview.
“And not just tracking in a helicopter, but tracking of other vessels in the vicinity of the helicopter approach as well to support safe landing for the helicopter,” he said. “As we have been discussing with them and other briefings [we held] with the U.S. Navy, it does extend the coverage of the SPY-1 radar.”
So the functions that SPY-1 radar uses to support missile engagements could now be additionally enhanced to support gun engagements and missile engagements, because the range of coverage of the SPY-1 is extended in to close-in to the ship, Smith explained.
Other areas of interest could be tracking of small surface targets and coastal operations where a full-powered SPY antenna would be disruptive, he added.
“This lower power option would have less interference, it would have little or no impact on the environment, and be more capable in [coastal] areas,” Smith said. “We have continued to do some studies on our own. Implementation and demonstration…that phase is now complete. We are now doing some engineering and analysis on the results of that data.”
On Oct. 2, at its Moorestown facility, Lockheed Martin conducted the first demonstration of ESR. The demonstrated entailed bringing a helicopter toward the production facility and its SPY-1F radar. As the helicopter approached, the SPY-1F’s ESR mode seamlessly kicked in and began tracking the target without having any impact on the radar.
“We continued to maintain track without any disruption of that helicopter track all the way in, until just beyond our deck house here,” Smith said.
Similarly, Lockheed Martin demonstrated on the outbound the ability to reacquire the track as it moved away, Smith said. At one point, technicians purposefully lost track of the helicopter to demonstrate the ability to reacquire the track as it continued out bound, he added.
“Using the short range mode, we were successful in maintaining track all the way out through normal mid-range, at which time we transitioned back into normal modes of operations,” Smith said. “All this occurred seamlessly while maintaining normal operations around 360 degrees of search and track coverage here with whatever was up in the air at the time.”
Norway has expressed an interest in the capability, Gross noted. “They are looking at their long-term plans and we are waiting to hear.”
The Norwegian navy’s frigates are equipped with the latest SPY-1F radar. The U.S. Navy is currently using the SPY-1D. Lee added that ESR could be implemented in any generation of SPY-1 radar.