Royal Air Force
accepts third Lockheed Martin Defence Radar Upgrade
1 June 2004
BRAMPTON, England, June 1,
2004 – The Royal Air Force (RAF) has formally accepted the
upgrades completed by Lockheed Martin UK to two of its
long-range solid state defense radars, situated at remote
sites in Scotland.
Referred to by the RAF as Type 92, or T92
radar, the transportable radars are early versions of
Lockheed Martin’s FPS-117 product line and provide air
surveillance for the RAF. The two systems, in use since
1979, were nearing the end of their service life in 1996
when the RAF’s Air Defense Ground Based Systems (ADGBS)
group initiated a series of major upgrades to bring the
radars up to equivalent technology with the current systems.
Work performed by Lockheed Martin included upgrading the
radar’s signal and data processors and incorporating new
frequency synthesizer.
The Air Defense
Ground Based Systems group's
continued upgrade to the radar
electronics allowed the RAF to
maintain state of the art technology
and represented a more
cost-effective alternative to
purchasing entirely new radars, said
Ed Lane, Lockheed Martin product
support director.
“The most recent
upgrades extend the life of these
radars until at least 2010, with the
potential to go out to 2020,” Lane
said. “With this solution, the Royal
Air Force has current production
equipment with logistics support
that is compatible with the current
FPS-117 and any potential future
system expansions.”
“The success of this
project is an outstanding example of
what can be achieved from a
long-term partnership between the MOD
and Lockheed Martin,” said Paul
Lowe, integrated product team leader
for the ADGBS.
The FPS-117 is the
world standard in long range 3-D air
surveillance radar and is used by
the U.S. and many of its NATO
allies. Certified by NATO, there are
more than 160 FPS-177 systems in
operation around the world.
******
Lockheed Martin UK,
a unit of Lockheed Martin
Corporation, is a leader in systems
integration working on major
programmes spanning the aerospace,
defense, civil and commercial
sectors. In the UK, Lockheed Martin
has annual sales in the range of
£400-600 million working with more
than 75 business partners. Lockheed
Martin employs approximately 1,000
people at over 10 UK facilities
including London, Havant,
Southampton, Yeovil, Reading,
Swindon, Hertford, Bristol and
Cornwall.
Headquartered in
Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin
employs about 130,000 people
worldwide and is principally engaged
in the research, design,
development, manufacture and
integration of advanced technology
systems, products and services.
# # #
Media Contact:
Chris Trippick, 44-(0)23-9244-3739;
email:
chris.trippick@lmco.com
For additional
information, visit our Web site:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ms2
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