Army to spend $391M on more Lockheed radars

SALINA — The U.S. Army will buy another 33 radar systems from defense contractor Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) for $391 million.

Lockheed’s plant in Salina will work on the systems, along with sites in Moorestown, N.J.; Akron, Ohio; and Clearwater, Fla. The radars, known as AN/TPQ-53 (Q-53) counterfire target acquisition radars, provide 360-degree protection from rocket, mortar, and artillery fire, according to Lockheed.

The new systems were included in options that were part of a contract Lockheed announced in March. Remaining options could add another 38 systems and bring the total contract value to more than $800 million.

The Army’s earlier order of 12 systems was worth $166 million.

Lockheed has been developing the new system since 2007 and already had 32 units in production even before the new contract, according to the company. Commanders in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan were sending “urgent need statements” to their superiors asking for better protection from rocket, mortar, and artillery attacks while the system was still in development.

The company said it was able to start deploying systems a little less than four years after beginning development.

SRC, Inc. of Cicero, a nonprofit research and development corporation, is part of Lockheed’s team on the new radars.

Lockheed employs about 2,300 people in Salina and another 2,900 at a plant in Owego. The company has 123,000 employees worldwide. It generated net sales of $46.5 billion in 2011 and earned about $2.7 billion.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com