Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY), a leading provider of embedded, high-performance computing systems and software for image, sensor, and signal processing applications, announced that it was selected by Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Surface/Sea-based Missile Defense line of business to provide massive computing density and bandwidth for a new state-of-the-art radar system.
Lockheed Martin’s Scalable Solid State S-band Radar (S4R) engineering development model is an electronically scanned, active phase-array radar system designed to support multiple naval missions including air surveillance, cruise missile defense, sea-based ballistic missile defense, counter target acquisition, and littoral, or shoreline, operations. The S4R employs the compact, rugged Mercury PowerStream 7000® as the digital beamforming (DBF) signal processor, today’s most advanced approach to phased-array antenna pattern control. DBF offers significant performance advantages over conventional analog beamforming, including the significantly increased radar timeline efficiency which is needed to support the simultaneous multi-mission capability described above.
“Lockheed Martin successfully demonstrated live, multi-beam DBF search and track twenty-one days after the DBF signal processor was delivered to the S4R test site,” said Jim Judd, Lockheed Martin’s director of computer and digital systems engineering. “The performance leap provided by the S4R DBF capability enables Lockheed Martin to continue to provide the state-of-the-art multi-mission radar products required by our customers.”
For more than a decade, Mercury has delivered leading-edge computing solutions to Lockheed Martin for signal processing applications. Mercury provided the VME-based multicomputer which is embedded in the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Signal Processor (BSP) Advanced Development Model (ADM) for the SPY-1 radar. Next-generation Mercury PowerStream® 7000 multicomputer products will be deployed in multiple new Lockheed Martin Naval radar systems, the first of which goes into initial production in 2009.
“We’re pleased to continue our strong relationship with Lockheed Martin, and to help bring their highly innovative radar system to production with digital beamforming capability running on the most powerful embedded computer available,” said Didier Thibaud, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Computing Solutions at Mercury.
Delivery of the PowerStream 7000 is planned for 1QCY09. For more information on Mercury’s innovative solutions for next-generation warfare, visit www.mc.com/defense, or contact Mercury at (866) 627-6951 or [email protected].