Lockheed Delivers First LRDR Panels To Alaskan Airbase

Lockheed Martin has delivered the first radar panel to Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, that will make up the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA's) new Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR).

It is the first if the 20 radar panels to be delivered by the company to develop a new ballistic missile defense sensor for the US military under the MDA's $1.2 billion program.

The radar system will serve as a critical sensor within MDA's layered defense strategy to protect the US homeland from ballistic missile attacks, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The LRDR program is built upon the S-band radar technology. The LRDR combines solid-state radar (SSR) technologies with ballistic missile defense algorithms, all based upon an open architecture platform capable of meeting future growth. It consists of an "Equipment Shelter" which houses the radar array faces, a Mission Control Facility which supports radar operations as well as supporting facilities and infrastructure.

The panels will make up the radar's two antenna faces both approximately four stories high and wide. The installation and integration of the radar system will begin this year followed by the transition to the testing period.