Advanced radar systems such as the the ones hidden inside these radomes are going to drive the next surge of growth for Lockheed Martin in Liverpool, N.Y., promising lucrative government contracts that mean plentiful new hires for Central New York. (N. Scott Trimble, syracuse.com/TNS)
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — Lockheed Martin has won a U.S. Air Force competition to build a new type of training radar at its plant in suburban Syracuse, and locked down its first contract for a potentially lucrative long-term program.
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin an initial contract of $276 million to manufacture the next-generation radars for the Air Force’s Advanced Range Threat System, known as ARTS-V3.
The deal, which includes production options for more orders, is expected to provide a new source of work at the Lockheed plant at Electronics Park in Salina that could lead to contracts worth billions of dollars over the next decade or more.
Lockheed officials said the company will team up with neighboring defense contractor SRC Inc. in Cicero to produce the new variable aperture digital radars for the training system.
A Lockheed spokesperson declined to disclose what percentage of the work will be performed at SRC.
For Lockheed Martin, the Air Force contract is the latest in a string of successes as it competes for new defense contracts. The surge in business at the Salina plant has boosted local employment to about 2,600 employees and contractors, said spokesperson Kelly Vann.
The employment total is a record high for Lockheed Martin’s campus at Electronics Park, where 300 employees were hired last year and 150 the previous year.
The new Air Force contract is not expected to lead to any immediate new hiring, Vann said, but the company is still seeking to fill about 100 jobs this year.
She said the new radar production “is significant for the continued growth of the site and maintaining a presence in the area.”
The growth comes 11 years after Lockheed’s payroll in Salina declined to 1,600 people and the company made plans to close the plant and ship its remaining programs to other facilities.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., intervened and convinced Lockheed Martin to keep the plant open.
The new radar contract will help ensure the Salina plant thrives well into the future, Schumer said today as he announced the Air Force’s selection of Lockheed Martin.
“Syracuse’s world-class workforce will now produce the latest in cutting-edge radar for the U.S. Air Force, further cementing Syracuse as a global center for advanced manufacturing and technology,” Schumer said in a statement.
Lockheed and SRC will manufacture a new variable aperture digital radar for the Air Force, using X-band and C-band radar systems to simulate radar-guided missiles or other foreign air defense threats.
The radars are part of a mobile, ground-based system that will be used during in-flight training exercises with Air Force crews in fighter jets or other aircraft.
Lockheed, the nation’s largest defense contractor, has partnered with SRC in the past on other radar projects. In 2013, the companies used their Central New York workforce to collaborate on the Q-53 counterfire target acquisition radar.
The Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.6 billion contract in March 2017 for production of Q-53 radars that track incoming rocket, mortar and artillery fire. The contract was the second largest in the history of the Salina plant.
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