Radar market expanding as is our coverage
StoryMarch 04, 2015
Embedded signal processing solutions are driving the bandwidth in modern military radar systems and electronic warfare designs – two of the hottest areas in the defense electronics market, both of which we cover extensively at Military Embedded Systems. The market for radar is especially strong and looks to stay that way.
For example, for the radar/lidar there were 79 awards in 2013 totaling $4 billion with Raytheon leading the way, says Brad Curran, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. Through September 2014 there were 41 awards totaling $2 billion, he adds. “2014 is skewed with Lockheed Martin winning the $914 million Space Fence contract in June. The big money for radar is still in missile defense, which is proliferating. Secondly, funding for F-35 radar and upgrades to radars for other fighter jets – that cannot afford the F-35 radar – will be steady.”
The Lockheed Martin Space Fence system, which graced the cover of our January radar issue, tracks space junk in orbit around the Earth. To read the article, click here.
Other big radar awards we covered on Mil-Embedded.com in 2014 included Northrop Grumman Corp’s win of the Marine Corps AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) systems low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract valued at $207,291,682. G/ATOR is a ground-based multi-mission active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
Earlier in 2014 Raytheon won a $235.5 million contract to provide Radar Digital Processor (RDP) kits for upgrading the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for the U.S. and two other partner nations. The contract looks to improve target detection and identification, enhance surveillance, and support the PAC-3 MSE missile, according to Raytheon.
“On the maritime side there’s been a lot of radar contracts for applications such as surface ship self defense to deter incoming anti-ship missiles from potential adversaries in the Western Pacific,” Curran says. Raytheon continues to be the leader in this after having won the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) contract – a next-generation defensive system for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in 2013, he adds.
Since radar continues to be hot, we will be expanding our coverage and attention to the subject in 2015. First, this week we are launching a new electronic newsletter called the Radar Tech Quarterly, coming to you four times a year of course. Content will include all the best latest radar-related articles, blogs, products, and news from the Mil-Embedded.com and other OpenSystems Media websites.
On top of that we also will have a Radar E-Mag with the best print and online feature articles from Military Embedded Systems as well as content original to the e-mag.
Interviews and roundtables with top players in the defense industry are featured along with radar, ISR, unmanned systems, avionics, and other technology stories in the McHale Report, which comes out monthly. To check the February issue, click here.
