MEADS integrates multifunction fire-control radar and awaits test

The tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System's (MEADS') first multifunction fire-control radar (MFCR) has been integrated with a MEADS battle manager and launcher and is to be trialled during an interceptor test this year, industry officials said.

According to lead MEADS contractor Lockheed Martin, the MFCR is an X-band solid-state phased array radar using element-level transmit-and-receive modules to facilitate "precision tracking and wideband discrimination and classification capabilities".

The MEADS MFCR, which is transportable in a C-130 cargo aircraft, can provide "surveillance and fire-control capabilities until a surveillance radar joins the network", the company said in a 14 August announcement. "Through its plug-and-fight capability, the MFCR simply acts as a node on the MEADS network," the statement added.

The MFCR has completed system-level testing with the MEADS battle manager and launcher at Pratica di Mare Air Force Base near Rome and has been deployed to the United States for the weapon's first intercept test, which is planned for before the end of the year at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

"Currently there are no technical show stoppers for that event," Marty Coyne, business development director for MEADS International, told reporters during a conference call.