SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Lockheed Martin is preparing to send the U.S. Air Force its advanced TPY-4 radar for further evaluation, following months of internal testing and tweaks at company facilities in rural Recent York.
The software-defined sensor, able to detecting and tracking every part from small drones to jets to ballistic missiles, is slated to switch the decades-old TPS-75 radar as a part of the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long Range Radar effort, or 3DELRR.
The Air Force picked Lockheed’s technology last 12 months, beating out an offering from Northrop Grumman. The service on the time cited production and sustainment costs in addition to overall capability in its decision-making.
“One thing that’s great in regards to the TPY-4, for instance, is it’s a software-defined radar upfront,” Steve Allen, Lockheed’s program director for ground-based air surveillance, told reporters during a Nov. 2 tour of the corporate’s test range and assembly lines. “When we’ve got changes of targets, or what we’re on the lookout for, it becomes quite a lot of ‘how do we alter our software?’”
Allen said he expects the TPY-4 to be pushed to its limits once it’s handed off at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, with the service determined to find “what this thing can really, really do.” Testing is predicted to start in the summertime.
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The TPY-4 features an energetic electronically scanned array, often shortened to AESA, and is obtainable in each fixed and mobile variants. The many pucks or nodules on its face allow for multitasking and digital reprogramming.
Lockheed announced the successful production of the primary TPY-4 in May 2022. No less than three were being worked on through the November tour.
International interest within the TPY-4 is powerful, in line with company leaders. The Norwegian military is awaiting a delivery after signing a contract months ago. Others are queueing — or at the least window-shopping.
“There’s been quite a lot of countries which can be very, very interested,” Allen said. “They’re waiting for the Air Force to, sort of, get through their process to say, ‘OK, we’re comfortable with the maturity level,’ before they take the subsequent step.”
Lockheed is the world’s largest defense contractor when ranked by defense-related revenue, earning greater than $63 billion in 2022, in line with Defense News Top 100 evaluation.
Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covers military networks, cyber and IT. Colin previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a day by day newspaper in South Carolina. Colin can be an award-winning photographer.