Lockheed Martin’s Syracuse-area plant wins radar contract worth up to $3 billion

SALINA, N.Y. — The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE: LMT) manufacturing plant in the town of Salina a radar contract that could be worth up to $3 billion in the long run and be the facility’s largest-ever contract.

Lockheed will initially receive $281 million to develop and produce the Sentinel A4 radar system at the plant located on Electronics Parkway. The Army will award additional production funding at a later date, the office of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) said in a Thursday news release.

The senator noted that the “potential value” of the program to Lockheed Martin amounts to “upwards of $3 billion over 20 years,” including production and “potential” international sales.

This is the second radar that Lockheed Martin’s Salina factory will produce for the Army. It already manufactures the Q-53 radar, Schumer’s office noted.

Schumer said that the contract “would maintain the Lockheed Martin Syracuse workforce for the long-term future.”

“This multi-billion dollar, record-breaking contract enables the world-class workforce at Lockheed Martin to produce cutting-edge radar that protects our troops on the battlefield and will also drive the Central New York economy for years to come,” Schumer contended in the release. “I have fought long and hard for the kind of funding and federal programs that help Lockheed Martin in Syracuse do what it does best: produce superior technology for the United States armed forces.”

About the Sentinel A4

The Sentinel A4 is a “high-performance” modification of the Sentinel A3 air and missile defense radar that will “update the existing Sentinel capability against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems, rotary wing and fixed wing threats,” Schumer’s office said.

Additionally, the Sentinel A4 will also offer new array and signal-processing components to add detection, classification, identification and reporting capability against rocket, artillery, and mortar threats.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com