For the first time, Lockheed Martin [LMT] has put on public display its UHF Surveillance radar originally developed under the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program.
The UHF Surveillance Radar provides extended 360-degree air and missile defense coverage beyond the range of currently fielded NATO sensor systems, company officials said. The UHF sensors can efficiently scan large volume spaces at extended ranges and can detect small radar cross section targets.
The radar was displayed at the Space and Missile Defense Conference recently in Huntsville, Ala.
The radar was developed to work with the MEADS program’s X-band fire control radar to provide air defense against a number of challenging air-breathing and tactical ballistic missile threats.
The MEADS system is being developed by the United States, Germany and Italy.
In 2011, the United States decided that it would not take MEADS to production. Additionally, under the restructured program, it was determined that the current MEADS flight tests do not require a surveillance radar to demonstrate key capabilities so funding for the surveillance radar was terminated.
However, recognizing the unique contributions of a specialized UHF digital surveillance radar to the Integrated Air and Missile Defense architecture, and the investment made to date, a separate cooperative agreement between NATO MEADS Management Agency (NAMEADSMA) and Lockheed Martin was created to continue developing the radar, officials said.
NAMEADSMA has provided $19 million and Lockheed Martin about $10 million of its own investment funds to mature the radar and make it production ready.
Because of the additional investment, the UHF radar earlier this year was able to successfully detect aircraft targets with production-representative hardware and real-time software, further proving the maturity of the advanced digital radar technology.
The radar now has completed near-field test and prior moving to the Space and Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville, Ala., was undergoing integration and test at a Lockheed Martin’s outdoor test range near Syracuse, N.Y.
“We were detecting live targets within two weeks of moving the system to our outdoor test facility–a direct result of our risk reduction work,” Lockheed Martin spokesman Chip Eschenfelder said. “We assembled and tested the full system in ten short months thanks to a streamlined integration approach.”
For the future, the radar could move forward as part of the MEADS program of record, or would easily integrate into the missile defense systems such as Patriot and THAAD. The radar would plug right into either system, as it was designed to be interoperable with Army integrated air and missile defense systems. The United States. Germany and Italy all expect to harvest technologies from the development work.
From the conference, the radar returns for more testing to Lockheed Martin facilities at Syracuse, N.Y.