Lockheed Martin said its Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar (TRACER) has been deployed to on a U.S. Army C12 aircraft for U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. The radar, which is completed operational demonstrations, is a low-frequency, synthetic aperture radar that is capable of detecting objects that are buried, camouflaged or concealed under dense foliage.
“We welcome the opportunity to continue to support SOUTHCOM’s mission,” said Jim Quinn, vice president of C4ISR Systems with Lockheed Martin IS&GS-Defense. “As our foliage penetration system has for many years, the TRACER system stands ready to serve and deliver SOUTHCOM with unique actionable intelligence products 24/7, 365 days of the year, day or night.”
Prior to this deployment, TRACER successfully completed more than 160 flight tests on manned and unmanned platforms. TRACER replaces Lockheed Martin’s foliage penetration (FOPEN) system, which has completed more than 1,400 flights since going operational in 2005.
There are currently four qualified TRACER systems available for deployment on manned or unmanned platforms. TRACER was developed for the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate, based at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md.