An image of the Lochkeed Martin-built Sentinel A4 radar. (Lockheed Martin)
The US Army will move forward with full-rate production of the Lockheed Martin-built Sentinel A4 radar system, agreeing in principle to a sole source production deal with the company for the air-defence platform.
“The army went through and did a [justification and approval] to get permission to award us a full-rate production contract,” said Chandra Marshall, vice-president of Radar and Sensor Systems at Lockheed Martin.
“Originally, that was something that was going to be competed, but the army decided .... to go sole source to Lockheed Martin,” she told Janes during a 16 October interview at the Association of the US Army (AUSA) annual symposium in Washington, DC.
The army and Lockheed Martin have yet to formally finalise the sole source, full-rate production contract for the Sentinel. Company officials are still waiting for the army to issue an official request for proposal (RFP) for the sole source deal, before the agreement can be finalised, Marshall said.
The deal, once finalised, will allow company officials “to move to full-rate production for the Sentinel A4”, Marshall said. “We will be working with [the army] on those proposal activities over the course of the next six or so months,” she explained.
The army plans to field a total of 240 Sentinel A4 radars, to meet service requirements for the programme, said David Kenneweg, programme director for multimission air-defence radars at Lockheed Martin.
“That's the army acquisition objective,” he added, regarding the 240 total figure, during the same 16 October interview.
The army has already awarded an accelerated low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for 19 Sentinel A4 radar systems, which are currently in production, according to Marshall.
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