Lockheed Martin [LMT] partnered with Weibel Scientific A/S, a Danish doppler radar company, to produce a Gap-Filling Tracking Radar (GFTR) for ballistic missile defense (BMD), Lockheed Martin said Monday.

The GFTR is to designed and implemented to provide full and overlapping coverage against a spectrum of threat across Europe, Lockheed Martin said.

Peder Pedersen (left), CEO of Weibel Scientific A/B, and Brad Hicks (right), vice president at Lockheed Martin, participated in a signing ceremony launching the companies' partnership to extend ballistic missile defense capabilities. Photo: Lockheed Martin.
Peder Pedersen (left), CEO of Weibel Scientific A/B, and Brad Hicks (right), vice president at Lockheed Martin, participated in a signing ceremony launching the companies’ partnership to extend ballistic missile defense capabilities.
Photo: Lockheed Martin.

“Weibel currently produces a series of sophisticated Continuous Wave Doppler radar systems that are in operation throughout the world. Their experience and skill in radar technology, combined with Lockheed Martin’s BMD expertise, will help to extend our ability to detect, control and engage ballistic missiles to defend our nation and our allies,” Brad Hicks, vice president of integrated warfare systems and sensors at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.

The company highlighted the GFTR’s precision tracking and discrimination capabilities would allow warfighters to defend across large geographical areas with advanced capabilities incorporated into the NATO European BMD architecture.

“This partnership gives us the opportunity to integrate our NASA radar technology with Lockheed Martin’s leading BMD capabilities. We could not imagine a stronger partner than Lockheed Martin to support our advanced radar technology as we work to expand and upgrade BMD in the region,” Peder Pedersen, chief executive officer of Weibel Scientific, said.

The partnership is part of an industrial cooperation agreement between the companies with the approval of the Danish Business Authority in June.

Lockheed Martin has also been pre-approved by the DBA for three separate projects: Systematic on an electronic warfare support system, SSBV-Rovsing for assistance toward maturing and marketing its Solar Arraw Simulator in the U.S. market, and a Terma project for development of the next generation Star Tracker that precisely determines a satellite’s orientation in space.

Three other North American companies also received approval to work with Danish companies: Sikorsky [UTX], GE Aviation [GE], and CAE Inc. [CAE].

The GFTR work is to be completed at Weibel’s Denmark facilities and the Aegis BMD development site in Moorestown, N.J., Lockheed Martin said.