DEFENSE NEWS
Harris Awarded
$736 M for Weather
Satellite System
Harris Corp. has been awarded a 10-year, potential $736 M contract to
provide a complete, end-to-end solution for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA)
Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellite —
Series R Ground Segment
(GOES-R GS) program.
The Harris team will
design, develop, deploy and operate the GOES-R ground
segment, which will receive and process satellite data, and
generate and distribute weather data to more than 10,000
direct users. Harris will also provide the command and
control of operational satellites. The Harris team is providing a service-based, open-architecture solution that will
accommodate the anticipated 40-times increase in data to
be ingested, processed and distributed. The first launch of
a GOES-R series satellite is scheduled for 2015.
Today’s GOES satellites provide the images and time-lapse sequences familiar to most Americans because they
are commonly used in television weather forecasts. The
satellites are the primary tool used by NOAA to detect and
track hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and other severe weather in the continental US and the western hemisphere. The next-generation GOES-R system will provide
significantly improved image resolution and increase the
rate of imagery coverage of earth surfaces from every 30
minutes to every five minutes in normal conditions, and
every 30 seconds during periods of severe weather.
those applying to either the land-based or shipboard segments. Total “free world” market values are just over US$6
B in 2009, which more than doubles to exceed US$13 B
for 2015. Throughout the report the geographic segmentations are: Europe, North America and the Rest of the
“Free World” (Ro W).
Engalco’s research indicates that the total available markets for TRMs will approach US$1.3 B for 2009, which will
grow strongly over most of the time scale. Total markets
for the required MMICs, implemented in each TRM, to
a large extent mirror the forecasted data for the TRMs.
However, careful attention is paid to the impacts of unit
prices on both TRM and MMIC market values. Unit price
data, including regional and application-segment forecasts,
are provided for TRMs and MMICs. The impact of new
technologies such as GaN power amplifiers and SiGe BiCMOS receivers is taken into account in the data.
AESAs2 includes extensive market data charts and tables complete with commentaries and critiques, covering
all application segments and geographic regions to 2015.
Forecasted shipments data are included and the retrofit-ting of AESAs onto existing platforms represents an important feature of this report. For further information, please
contact Engalco at + 44 (0)1262 424 249 (GMT) or e-mail:
enquiries@engalco-research.com.
Growing Market
for Active
Electronically-
Scanned Arrays
(AESA)
In January 2007—around two-and-a-half years’ back
—Engalco released the first
industry and market report
concerning AESAs. That
first report clearly showed
that these types of radars already had great operational
significance whilst at the
same time providing substantial and growing markets
for the associated transmit-receive modules (TRM) and MMICs. The AESAs Report
was understandably well received and the time is now right
for an update: AESAs2, recently released by Engalco.
A substantial amount of new research lies behind AE-
SAs2, including of course the likely impacts of US Defense
Secretary Richard Gates’ major review. There are many
changes affecting the main application segments of airborne,
land-based and shipboard platforms, and an entirely new
segment is included providing quantitative data on space-borne radars. Several recently announced new AESA systems are included throughout this report for each segment.
Airborne applications represent the main markets with
379 “free world” shipments in 2009 rising to 1,638 in 2015.
These markets are typically two orders of magnitude above
Lockheed Martin to
Develop Long-range
Radar for US Air
Force
The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed
Martin a fixed-price contract for nearly $25 M to
develop a prototype for the
next-generation 3-Dimen-
sional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR).
Lockheed Martin was one
of two teams placed under
contract for the technical
development of this new
land-based radar.
The Electronic Systems
Center at Hanscom Air Force Base leads the acquisition
for the new radar. The Air Force plans to replace its entire TPS- 75 long-range radar inventory with the 3DELRR,
which will detect, identify, track and report aircraft and
missiles. Following a 20-month Technical Development
Phase, the Air Force has said it intends to competitively
award one contract for system development in the 2011
timeframe.
“Lockheed Martin will leverage our years of experience
in developing transportable long-range radars to provide
our long-time Air Force customer with a radar that will
meet its mission requirements,” said Carl Bannar, Vice
President of Lockheed Martin’s radar business in Syracuse,
NY. “We are honored to have been selected to continue
development on 3DELRR, and intend to demonstrate that
we have the best solution.”
Lockheed Martin built the first next-generation long-range
radar, the AN/TPS- 59. There are more than 170 of the company’s radars—including the TPS- 59, the AN/FPS- 117 and
