Friday, January 09, 2009

SR

IOC: 2015
Total Program's Cost: USD$440 million

Also Known As
SBR
Space Based Radar

Origin
United States of America

Contractor/s
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman

Description: The Space-Based Radar (SBR) will provide day-night, all-weather, continuous detection and tracking of moving targets worldwide and 3D ground mapping data. The data provided by the SBR will be available for the war-fighters and intelligence communities.

The SBR satellite will be able to search within areas denied even to airborne platforms. The US Air Force plans to launch the first SBR satellite by 2012. The system will provide global persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance through delivery of Surface Moving Target Indication, Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging, High Resolution Terrain information, and derived products for use by DoD and intelligence community users.

The US Air Force awarded Northrop-Grumman and Lockheed-Martin teams two $220 24-month million concept development contract in late April 2004. These contracts call for studies of system and software architectures, performance, affordability and risk reduction. The prime contractor for the SBR program will be selected in 2006.

The US Air Force relocated the Space Radar (SR) program office into the Washington D.C. area and changed the focus of the whole program on 28 January 2005. The restructured program is now available for both the military and the intelligence communities. A quarter-scale model satellite demonstrator was scheduled to be launched in fiscal year 2008 with the aim to mature technologies which are necessary for the program as well as to validate costs, concept of operations and user utility. The modern multi-function radar, one of the program's keys, to be provided to SR satellites will host capabilities such as synthetic aperture radar imagery, high resolution terrain information, advanced geospatial intelligence, and surface moving target indication.

In March 2005, US Air Force officials reported that the quarter-scale model satellite will use and demonstrate the same transmitter/receiver of the fully operational satellite. The first space radar satellite launch was delayed three years from 2012 to 2015.

News
Lockheed-Martin to Continue Developing ISAT

Image Gallery

Notes
(*) lead contractor
IOC: Initial Operating Capability
FOC: Full Operating Capability
CEP: Circular Error Probable
Comm: Commissioning Date
Meters (m) Kilometers (km) Nautic Miles (nm) Inch (in) Yard (yd) Foot (ft) Millimeter (mm)
Pound (lb) Kilogram (kg) kN (KiloNewton) Ton (t)
Meters per Second (mps) Kilometers per Hour (kph) Knot (kt) Miles per Hour (mph)
Liter (l) Galon (gl)
Year (yr) Minutes (min) Second (sec)
Shaft-Horse-Power (shp)

Last Updated: Saturday, December 20, 2008

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