The U.S. Army has awarded separate contracts to four companies to develop concept designs that will be used to determine the requirements for a new platform to replace its Patriot air-and-missile defense radar system, Defense News reported Wednesday.
Contract recipients include Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and Technovative Applications, sources told the publication.
The Army awarded 15-month contracts through the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium as part of the technology maturation and risk reduction phase of the Lower-Tier Air-and-Missile Defense Sensor program.
Mark Mekker, director of next-generation radar systems at Lockheed, said the company plans to further develop its Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar for Engagement and Surveillance prototype and its radar concept will be based on a distributed architecture with a 360-degree threat detection capability.
Raytheon said in a statement it will leverage its experience in integrated air and missile defense and its $300 million investment in AESA gallium nitride radar technology development.
Barry Pike, program executive officer for Army missiles and space, said at the Association of the U.S. Army™s annual meeting the service aims to deploy the new Patriot AMD radar replacement technology by mid-2020s.
