By Marina Malenic
A new Army radar system that can “see” through foliage is attracting the interest of U.S. Special Forces Command (USSOCOM), as well as the Pentagon organization responsible for fielding technologies to defeat roadside bombs, system manufacturer Lockheed Martin [LMT] said last week.
Lockheed Martin is under contract with the Army to provide a Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment Enabled Radar (TRACER) for use on the service’s Warrior unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The company will deliver two radar systems, a set of spares and ground stations by next summer under the terms of its $40 million contract.
USSOCOM officials will be briefed on the new system this week, according to Robert Robinson, Lockheed Martin program manager for both TRACER and its predecessor system–the foliage penetration (FOPEN) radar, currently being used by U.S. forces in South America.
“SOCOM has a jungle operations requirement, and they are trying to determine what are the best technologies to bring to bear in that fight,” Robinson said during an Oct. 7 press briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington.
He stressed that “there is nothing else out there that can provide this capability.”
FOPEN was developed to detect vehicles, buildings and large metallic objects in broad areas of dense foliage, forested areas and wooded terrain by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Army and the Air Force in the late 1990s. The system has flown hundreds of missions, primarily in South America.
TRACER will build and improve on that capability, according to Robinson.
“The system weight is coming in at about 260 pounds, and we’re going to have a coverage area about five times greater than FOPEN,” he said.
The FOPEN system weighs in at about 600 pounds and is “not adequately ruggedized for UAVs,” Robinson explained.
He said the Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), the Pentagon shop that fields technologies to counter roadside bombs, is also interested in potentially using the radar to detect buried objects. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command is working to assess the radar’s ability to locate IEDs, according to a Lockheed Martin press statement. The radar’s ability to detect and locate IED emplacements has been demonstrated at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., through JIEDDO-sponsored tests.
Flight testing of the new system will begin in December, Robinson said, and the first TRACER unit is expected to be delivered to the Army next spring.