On February 2, the U.S. company Lockheed Martin announced that it had begun deliveries of a total of 19 new Sentinel A4 radars, belonging to the low-rate initial production lot, to the United States Army (US Army), while also completing the first phase of the system’s initial operational test and evaluation, taking another step toward full-rate production.
This acquisition—preceded by the Army’s receipt of the first five radars for testing and evaluation in 2022 and framed within a contract awarded in 2019 valued at USD 281,000,000—responds to the need to replace the Sentinel A3 radar (currently in service) with a 360-degree AESA sensor designed to counter various types of aerial threats.
As previously mentioned, the system incorporates an advanced X-band digital AESA radar with Digital Transmit/Receive LRUs (DTRL) architecture and 360-degree azimuth coverage, and it stands out for its flexible architecture prepared to address future threats. Regarding its specific functions, it enables simultaneous, multi-mission operations across the full spectrum of air and missile defense threats, including search, tracking, classification, and fire control.
In addition, the Sentinel A4 provides capabilities to detect and track fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, cruise missiles, low-observable threats, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), even in demanding environments with complex terrain and high levels of electromagnetic and radiofrequency interference.
In this context, Rick Cordero, vice president of Radar and Sensor Systems at Lockheed Martin, stated: “This delivery represents an important milestone in equipping warfighters with the next-generation radar capability needed to address current and future threats (…) The Sentinel A4 expands battlespace awareness and enhances layered defense against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems, and rotary- and fixed-wing threats in complex environments.”
*Illustrative images – Credits to Lockheed Martin.
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