SALINA — The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $881 million for production of new radar systems. The AN/TPQ-53 Firefinder Radar systems, formerly known as the EQ-36, will be manufactured at Lockheed’s Salina plant. The contract includes a base year worth $166 million that calls for production of 12 systems. Two […]
SALINA — The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $881 million for production of new radar systems.
The AN/TPQ-53 Firefinder Radar systems, formerly known as the EQ-36, will be manufactured at Lockheed’s Salina plant. The contract includes a base year worth $166 million that calls for production of 12 systems.
Two option years could bring the total delivery to 51 systems, according to the Army.
The radar provides improved protection for soldiers from rocket, mortar, and artillery attacks, according to Lockheed.
“The AN/TPQ-53 will bolster the level of protection for soldiers in the field by expanding basic counterfire-radar capabilities in both 90- and 360-degree modes,” Lt. Col. Robert Thomas, Army product manager for radars, said in a news release. “This is a great example of the Army and industry coming together to ultimately deliver a system that will greatly enhance situational awareness by providing the precise location of hostile indirect fire weapons.”
The systems are truck-mounted, which offers greater mobility, automated leveling, and remote operating capabilities. They also provide 360-degree protection, a major advance for the Army, says Chip Eschenfelder, a Lockheed spokesman.
Lockheed has been developing the new system since 2007 and already had 32 units in production even before the new contract, Eschenfelder says. 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.
Eschenfelder says Lockheed hopes to be manufacturing the systems long into the future.
Lockheed employs about 2,300 people in Salina and another 2,900 at a plant in Owego. The defense contractor has 126,000 employees worldwide.
The company generated net sales of $46.5 billion in 2011 and earned about $2.7 billion.