Lockheed continues work on U.S. Army radars with nearly $1.6B contract, largest ever for Salina plant

SALINA — The U.S. Army has contracted with the Salina plant of Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) to produce 70 Q-53 radars over the next five years. That’s according to Rick Herodes, director of Lockheed Martin’s Q-53 radar program, who spoke with local reporters at the Salina plant on April 3.“This contract asks us on the Q-53 line to increase production two times the rate that we’ve done in the past,” said Herodes.

The U.S. Army awarded the Salina plant a nearly $1.6 billion contract for Q-53, which is short for the AN/TP-Q-53 radar system. The radar system assists soldiers with an early warning on rockets, artilleries, and mortars. The Bethesda, Maryland–based defense contractor confirmed in a statement emailed to CNYBJ on March 31 that the award represents the “largest contract in Lockheed Martin Syracuse history.” The contract is for “full-rate production and deployment,” the U.S. Army said in announcing the contract on the website of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The Army also noted in its announcement that “bids were solicited via the Internet with one received.”

CNYBJ asked Herodes if he was surprised that no other contractor placed a bid for the contract. “I don’t think I was surprised. I think that the Army recognizes and that our competitors recognize that we design and build the [Q-] 53 and that it would be pretty difficult for them to do what we do,” said Herodes. The Army submitted its most recent order for the radar during the final week of March, he added.

The Q-53 radar system is officially known as the counter fire target acquisition radar system. The contract has an estimated completion date of March 29, 2022, the U.S. Army said. Besides the Salina location, the Lockheed Martin location in Owego also handles work on the Q-53 contract, Herodes said. The Owego facility focuses on the section of the radar that rotates. “They build the big rotational assembly for us … They’re going to fill their lines to capacity and we’re looking forward to seeing those parts flow to Syracuse,” said Herodes. 

In addition to Salina and Owego, the company’s locations in Clearwater, Florida and Moorestown, New Jersey also handle work on the same radars, Herodes added. The Salina location in January announced it had produced the 100th AN/TPQ-53 radar system under its contract for the equipment. The Salina location of Lockheed Martin has 50 openings for systems engineers, software engineers, and mechanical engineers. “Some of those engineers will work on the [Q-53 contract],” Herodes noted.

 

Navy Contract Awards

The U.S. Navy has also awarded Lockheed Martin’s Salina plant two contracts totaling more than $114 million. Both are modifications to a previously awarded contract. The Navy announced both contracts on the DOD website.

The contract exercises “options for full-rate production” in the surface electronic warfare improvement program (SEWIP) for U.S. aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and other warships. The Navy expects workers at the defense contractor to complete work on the modification contract by August 2019.

Earlier in the month it announced a more than $98 million modification to the same contract for “full-rate production” on SEWIP block 2 subsystems. The Navy expects Lockheed Martin workers to complete that work by July 2019, according to the DOD website.

Employees at the Salina location will handle nearly a quarter of the work involved in both contract options. At the same time, workers in Frankfort in Herkimer County and in Hauppauge on Long Island; along with those in Lansdale, Pennsylvania; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Hamilton, New Jersey; Brockton, Massachusetts; West Yorkshire, United Kingdom; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Huntsville, Alabama, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania will assist the effort, according to the DOD website.