Lockheed Martin’s Q-53 radar demonstrates counter-UAS capabilities

Lockheed Martin’s Q-53 counter fire radar last week demonstrated its ability to identify and track unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and pass that information to a command and control node.

Lockheed said that this capability will assist forces in a crowded battle space with emerging air threats.

“The demonstration showed that the Q-53 radar can provide soldiers in combat real time awareness of air threats,” Rick Herodes, program director of the Q-53 radar system at Lockheed Martin, said. “The inherent flexibility of the Q-53’s active electronically scanned array (AESA) hardware architecture allows us to constantly evolve the Q-53’s software to deal with emerging threats. This demonstration provided further verification that the Q-53 enables the warfighter to stay ahead of changing global threats.”

The solid-state phased array radar system detects and identifies the location of enemy indirect fire in either 360 or 90 degree models.

The demonstration was part of the U.S. Army’s annual Maneuver and Fires Integration Experiment. The Q-53 demonstration showed that it can be readily adapted to provide both air surveillance and counter fire target acquisition in one tactical sensor. The system was developed to identify and track several unmanned aerial systems and provided data immediately. At the same time, the Q-53 performed its original mission by providing accurate targeting data on rockets, artillery and mortars.