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U.S. Army May Deploy Change-Detection Radar
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army are discussing the operational deployment of an airborne penetrating radar, now in flight testing, in the first half of next year.
The UHF-band Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar (Tracer) is being flight tested on a NASA-operated Predator B unmanned aircraft. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provides foliage, camouflage and ground penetration.
For the deployment with an unidentified combatant command, the radar would be carried by a manned aircraft, says Robert Robinson, Lockheeds Tracer program manager. The radar provides wide-area surveillance and automated change-detection capability.
By the end of the year, Lockheed Martin will deliver the last of four radars on contract, one of which would be used operationally. If the deployment extends beyond a single system, Robinson says the Army intends to place a low-rate initial production order for additional radars.
The company also is in talks on adding modes to the Tracer, he says, including ground moving-target indication (GMTI) and a circle-SAR feature in which the platform would orbit the target area to focus the radars energy and increase detection capability.
In its baseline form, the radar can produce strip or spot SAR maps from a single pass over the target area. Comparing this baseline image with a second SAR map of the area taken on a later pass allows the system to produce a change-detection image, Robinson says.
The change-detection image, along with a text file listing the latitude and longitude of detected targets, is produced automatically on board the platform and downlinked.
Tracer completed 15 months of testing on a manned C-12 King Air that fully evaluated the radars performance, Robinson says. Flight trials on the Predator B, which began in September and continue into January, are focused on specific UAV modes.
We will test against a number of specific targets for various combatant commands, Robinson says. And we will check the command-and-control operation of the radar.
For the C-12 flights, there was a radar operator on the aircraft, but on the Predator flights the Tracer is being controlled from the ground station, he says.
Tracer is a dual-band system, and flight tests of the radar with its VHF antenna began in October on a surrogate manned platform.
This antenna is sized for a large aircraft, and design work is underway on versions for the C-12, Predator and Gray Eagle UAV. A UHF SAR previously built by Lockheed under a foliage-penetration technology demonstration has flown more than 1,000 operational missions outside the U.S. Compared with this radar, Tracer has 5-10 times greater area coverage, Robinson says.
U.S. Army May Deploy Change-Detection Radar | AVIATION WEEK. Army May Deploy Change-Detection Radar
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army are discussing the operational deployment of an airborne penetrating radar, now in flight testing, in the first half of next year.
The UHF-band Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar (Tracer) is being flight tested on a NASA-operated Predator B unmanned aircraft. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provides foliage, camouflage and ground penetration.
For the deployment with an unidentified combatant command, the radar would be carried by a manned aircraft, says Robert Robinson, Lockheeds Tracer program manager. The radar provides wide-area surveillance and automated change-detection capability.
By the end of the year, Lockheed Martin will deliver the last of four radars on contract, one of which would be used operationally. If the deployment extends beyond a single system, Robinson says the Army intends to place a low-rate initial production order for additional radars.
The company also is in talks on adding modes to the Tracer, he says, including ground moving-target indication (GMTI) and a circle-SAR feature in which the platform would orbit the target area to focus the radars energy and increase detection capability.
In its baseline form, the radar can produce strip or spot SAR maps from a single pass over the target area. Comparing this baseline image with a second SAR map of the area taken on a later pass allows the system to produce a change-detection image, Robinson says.
The change-detection image, along with a text file listing the latitude and longitude of detected targets, is produced automatically on board the platform and downlinked.
Tracer completed 15 months of testing on a manned C-12 King Air that fully evaluated the radars performance, Robinson says. Flight trials on the Predator B, which began in September and continue into January, are focused on specific UAV modes.
We will test against a number of specific targets for various combatant commands, Robinson says. And we will check the command-and-control operation of the radar.
For the C-12 flights, there was a radar operator on the aircraft, but on the Predator flights the Tracer is being controlled from the ground station, he says.
Tracer is a dual-band system, and flight tests of the radar with its VHF antenna began in October on a surrogate manned platform.
This antenna is sized for a large aircraft, and design work is underway on versions for the C-12, Predator and Gray Eagle UAV. A UHF SAR previously built by Lockheed under a foliage-penetration technology demonstration has flown more than 1,000 operational missions outside the U.S. Compared with this radar, Tracer has 5-10 times greater area coverage, Robinson says.
U.S. Army May Deploy Change-Detection Radar | AVIATION WEEK. Army May Deploy Change-Detection Radar
