Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has signed a five-year cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory‘s munitions directorate to test if its cooled tri-mode seeker can integrate into Air Force weapon platforms.
R&D will assess tri-mode weapon capabilities, emerging targeting concepts and guidance techniques.
Lockheed’s cooled tri-mode seeker is based on the Javelin, LONGBOW and HELLFIRE weapons systems.
It combines a semi-active laser sensor, an imaging infrared sensor and a millimeter wave radar into a single seeker with a common aperture.
All three sensor modes run simultaneously and share information in flight.
“We are pleased the U.S. Air Force is interested in further evaluating our tri-mode seeker and pushing it to its operational limits, ” said Frank St. John, vice president of tactical missiles in Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control business. “We have continued developing and testing our seeker hardware and software for other customers and applications since the end of the small diameter bomb II competition, and we look forward to demonstrating our mature seeker still offers superior effectiveness at the best value.”
