Lockheed enhances reconnaissance radar

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A reconnaissance radar from Lockheed Martin that penetrates foliage to detect slow-moving troops and vehicles is ready for airborne testing, the company said.

The ground/dismounted-moving target indication system, developed by Lockheed for the U.S. Army's Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar has been integrated into a modular pod and will be put through its paces on either a helicopter or an unmanned aerial vehicle.

"Integrating MTI into our foliage penetrating capability provides an unprecedented level of situational awareness," said Jim Quinn, vice president of C4ISR Systems with Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense. "By combining these two capabilities we offer analysts the ability to accurately locate virtually any surface target from a standoff range, in any type of weather."

TRACER is a light-weight, low-frequency synthetic-aperture radar that can peer through foliage, rain, darkness, dust storms or atmospheric haze to provide real-time, high-quality tactical ground imagery. It was first deployed in 2005 and combines UHF radar.

MTI uses a moving target's Doppler radar return to distinguish a target from surface clutter. Earlier tower testing of the integrated systems "consistently detected groups of foliage-obscured moving targets," Lockheed said.