Lockheed Martin has delivered the first Sentinel A4 radar from Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) 2 batch to the U.S. Army, as the company moves the system closer toward full-rate production.
Lockheed Martin said the delivery coincides with completion of the first phase of Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E), marking progress in operational validation efforts.
Rick Cordaro, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Radar and Sensor Systems, described the delivery as a key milestone for the programme.
“This delivery is a major milestone in getting next-generation radar capability to the warfighter to address the threats of today and tomorrow,” he said. “Sentinel A4 expands battlespace awareness and improves layered defense against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems and rotary- and fixed-wing threats in complex environments.”
The company stated that the system delivered is the first of 19 LRIP 2 radars scheduled for production, building on earlier deliveries under previous production lots.
Lockheed Martin said that during IOT&E Phase I, Sentinel A4 integrated with the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD-C2) system, which the firm said validated the radar’s open-architecture design and interoperability across multiple command-and-control networks.
Sentinel A4 is intended to replace the Sentinel A3 radar currently in service, with Lockheed Martin describing the new system as a 360-degree Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) sensor designed to counter a range of threats including cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft systems, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, rockets, artillery and mortars.
