An American Shield: Lockheed Martin and Missile Defense Agency Demonstrate Critical Radar Capability, Strengthening Homeland Defense

CLEAR, Alaska, June 24. Lockheed Martin and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) have successfully executed Flight Test Other-26a (FTX-26a). During FTX-26a, the Lockheed Martin-built Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) successfully detected, tracked, and discriminated a live ballistic missile threat in a complex environment, demonstrating its ability to provide critical data to homeland defense systems.

“Deterrence begins with detection, and the successful FTX-26a demonstration underscored LRDR’s ability to detect and track threats at extended ranges, while accurately distinguishing between targets and non-targets,” said Rick Cordaro, Vice President of Lockheed Martin’s Radar and Sensor Systems. “This technical advancement will significantly bolster our nation’s deterrence capabilities, providing a game-changing asset for homeland defense. With its open architecture, LRDR will facilitate the seamless integration of emerging technologies and software, enabling warfighters to receive timely, actionable information for decision-making and drives rapid response.”

FTX-26a took place over the north Pacific and demonstrated LRDR’s capabilities against an air-launched threat – representative target with countermeasures. Under the command of Command and Control Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC), LRDR successfully tracked the target and forwarded data to C2BMC which was successfully shared the flight test data to support a simulated Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) engagement.

The mission achieved the following firsts:

• LRDR demonstrated the detection, tracking, and discrimination of threats in a complex environment.
• C2BMC provided LRDR flight test data to support a simulated GMD engagement.