US Army Reinforces C-RAM Radar Capability

The US Army has ordered 33 additional C-RAM radar systems from Lockheed Martin under a $391 million contract.


Announced on 30 April, the order covers two contract options for 33 AN/TPQ-53 counterfire target acquisition radar radars, which are expected to be delivered by the end of 2014.

The options include spares, testing and training materials, and if all options are exercised, 38 additional low and full-rate production systems could be added equating to a contract value worth around $800 million.


The system offers protection from rocket, mortar and artillery fire and was formerly known as the EQ-36 during development and initial production.


‘The Q-53 is in production and has been battlefield-proven by the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan,’ Lee Flake, programme director for counterfire target acquisition radar programs at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors business said in a statement.

‘The radar detects, classifies and tracks enemy indirect fire, as well as locating its source, in either 360- or 90-degree modes that give soldiers greater protection than ever before.’


The Q-53 is vehicle-mounted, and can be ‘rapidly’ deployed, automatically leveled, and remotely operated with a laptop computer or from a fully equipped climate-controlled command vehicle.


The company submitted its bid for the contract to the army in September 2011, and it originally won the development contract for the radar in 2007, which was in response to an urgent needs statement.


A contract for 12 production systems was awarded to the company in 2008, and an award with options for an additional 20 systems was awarded in 2010. The army began deploying the system to Iraq and Afghanistan later that year.


Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin facilities in Syracuse, NY, Moorestown, NJ, Akron, Ohio, and Clearwater, Florida.