TriQuint Semiconductor has started shipping production GaAs monolithic microwave ICs to Lockheed Martin Radar Systems for use in the EQ-36 Counterfire Target Acquisition Radars being developed for the U.S. Army. The new devices are the latest products to be developed for Lockheed Martin in a relationship that has also included work on radar programs for ship-borne and aircraft systems. The die-level products in Lockheed’s transmit/receive (T/R) modules will support the initial production of five mobile systems being developed on an aggressive timetable.
The new phased array system, also known as the Enhanced AN/TPQ-36 radar, contains T/R modules that Lockheed Martin described as being at the “heart” of the overall system. These technologically highly mature modules are “ensuring the performance capability on which the Army relies,” the company said.
Lockheed Martin demonstrated a fully operational prototype of the EQ-36 at the 2007 exposition of the Association for the United States Army in October. Following that demonstration, Lockheed Martin Radar Systems vice president Carl Bannar said that the company was on the “fast track” to design and produce the system, having rolled-out a field-tested, operational prototype within nine months. The first of the completed radars is expected to be delivered to the Army by mid-2009, the company added.
Lockheed Martin
www.lockheedmartin.com