As the world’s most capable and flexible ground based multi-function long-range radar, Lockheed Martin’s TPY-4 has received its official U.S. Government nomenclature – AN/TPY-4(V)1 – officially marking the radar’s maturity and its ability to deliver fully-digital technology, and therefore setting a new standard for the future of radars. Lockheed Martin’s specialized team has spent more than 10 years and more than $100 million in research & development funds for the TPY-4 radar, including the construction, operation, and testing of prototype radar systems. TPY-4 offers multi-mission capabilities, such as early warning, situational awareness, tactical ballistic missile surveillance and air defense. It also integrates the latest mature commercial technologies to create a revolutionary radar architecture.
“Our team has worked diligently to deliver this advanced radar supporting domestic and international air surveillance requirements,” said Chandra Marshall, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin. “This designation represents our commitment to furthering our radar capabilities to specifically overmatch emerging, complex, and advanced threats.”
“Our digital transmitter and receiver architecture provides flexibility to adjust performance for evolving missions, threats, and environments,” said Rick Herodes, Lockheed Martin’s Radar and Sensor System’s Ground Based Air Surveillance program director. “TPY-4 provides unprecedented flexibility through software updates without invasive or time-consuming architectural redesigns, therefore making it the most effective risk management solution for national defense.”
TPY-4 is an internationally available, transportable, multi-mission radar that can operate in contested RF environments and provide the warfighter an ability to detect and track threats better than any previous radar available today. It accomplishes this with a fully digital, software-defined sensor architecture, allowing users to maintain ongoing surveillance throughout the mission. The first TPY-4 is well ahead of any competition and already in production to be unveiled later this year. The radar’s production sub-assemblies are passing environmental and performance tests, attributed to the foundation built and validated under Lockheed Martin’s investment and the commonality with the U.S. Army’s Sentinel A4 radar. The radar’s test results continue to surpass model predictions, as validated by open air testing, furthering the qualification of this advanced radar.
That’s because the TPY-4 radar users are not locked by the system’s hardware. Users have the ability to transmit and receive digitally, allowing for more enhanced target identification and classification. Earlier radars may have some level of digitization, but Lockheed Martin’s software-defined TPY-4 radar is digital at every element and across the entire architecture. Users don’t have to account for downtime for time-consuming actions, like hardware upgrades or manual data transfers. TPY-4 was developed to include all the experience that Lockheed Martin’s radar product family offers. The technology investments include Gallium Nitride (GaN), which Lockheed Martin has been delivering worldwide since 2017, providing greater efficiency and improved reliability as compared to legacy systems.
