In early June, Lockheed Martin and the Defence Science and Technology Group jointly announced the successful completion of an important step towards the next generation of Over The Horizon Radars (OTHR).
Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne
Project Coorong is the validation of years of modelling done by DST Group into the detection of small, fast moving targets at night, and at significant ranges. Although the modelling had shown that the work was feasible the project had to be ‘parked’ in order to direct resources towards the definition of Phase 6 of JP2025, Defence’s Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) upgrade program.
“We had developed the concept to a particular maturity, based on theory, modelling and simulation and we really had to park it, because we didn’t have the time or the resources, given our Phase 6 obligation,” explained Dr Gordon Frazer, DST Group’s Chief of Cyber and Electronic Warfare Division to ADM.
"Potentially this type of system would have a direct appeal to the US."
“We were going to park it for what really could have been several years in fact - we were in the situation where we’d done a lot of work. We were pleased with what we’d done (but) we would have liked to have validated it to get that closure.”
As a direct result of the strategic alliance signed between DST Group and Lockheed Martin Australia in 2014 however, industry has been able to fund the building of a test facility at Glendambo (100 kilometres north-west of Woomera) to validate the modelling work.
If the testing confirms the modelling as it is expected to do, Lockheed Martin will potentially be able to export the technology around the world.
Cruise missile detection
Project Coorong has its roots in an Air Force requirement to be included in the next generation OTHR, which will enable the detection and tracking of small, fast moving targets at night. This target set includes today’s cruise missile capabilities but also takes into consideration the next generation of hypersonic weapons.
Over The Horizon Radars typically operate at lower frequencies during night hours, due to a diminished ionosphere. The phenomenon is known as the Rayleigh scattering and the diminished ionosphere results in the significant reduction of the radar cross section of small targets, such as cruise missiles.
DST Group’s research and development has been therefore focussed on increasing the sensitivity of a future over the horizon radar to enable small targets to be detected at longer ranges at night. Initial results indicate that the work done under Project Coorong will improve sensitivity under these conditions by a factor of ten.
Test range
The facility at Glendambo was constructed by Australian SMEs and funded by Lockheed Martin Australia. Situated within the Woomera Test Range, it comprises two 30 element doublet arrays, spaced 270 metres apart. The facility is a small-scale replica of a next generation OTHR capability in order to prove the concept of design. The facility is also nearby a separate Line Of Sight HF radar facility operated by DST Group.
“Basically the goal is to exploit the structure of external noise – the fact that it doesn’t come from all directions equally,” Dr Frazer said. “We’re going to exploit that to provide extra sensitivity for a future OTHR.”
Declaration of the successful conclusion of Phase 1 of Project Coorong is represented by the completion of the facility at Glendambo and verification that it is capable of being powered up and collecting data. By the middle of June Lockheed Martin was in the final calibration and check-out phase, making sure that the arrays are capable of achieving the intended fidelity, with the activity expected to take two or three weeks.
The next phase will be the construction of a formal experimental program conducted over the next few months with the goal of publishing the data in open technical literature at a radar conference in 2017.
“The act of getting this project up under the strategic alliance and proves that the broader alliance concept that DST Group has pursued actually does work in practice,” Dr Frazer added.
“DST Group is delighted that something we’ve done has transitioned so smoothly into industry and we are also delighted with the relationship that we have.”
International sales potential
Despite the fact that Project Coorong is an Australian initiative, the capability will not be mature enough to be incorporated into the JORN upgrades proposed under JP2025 Phase 6 and according to Lockheed Martin Australia’s general manager, Jack Mahoney its first application is likely to be in the international marketplace.
“From a Lockheed Martin perspective, a lot of the problems that DST Group had identified in that area is really about a problem space that one of our international customers would potentially also want to resolve with the next generation over the horizon radar,” Mahoney explained.
One such application which may have benefited from the technology was the Brazilian Navy’s Sistema de Gerenciamento do Amazonia Azul (SisGAAz) maritime awareness program, which began in 2014 and Mahoney said that Lockheed Martin also sees potential in other international markets, including the United States.
“This technology could have been applicable to that (SisGAAz) space as well, but at the same time the US was also clearly interested in trying to understand how OTHR fits into their layer of systems-of-systems, from a detection perspective,” he noted.
“We’ve been chasing some international markets for around 10 years. Modelling has suggested that this solution is the way the problem could be solved, and we’ve now fielded the technology that is helping us to prove that modelling.
"If the experiment proves true over the next year, potentially this type of system would have a direct appeal to the US."
Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems are the two bidders in JP2025 Phase 6 and both companies are now preparing their tender responses.
Although Dr Frazer said that the potential enhancements will not be applicable to the JORN upgrade, irrespective of the outcome of validation work, he considered the work to be sufficiently advanced to allow Lockheed Martin to open discussions with international customers in the near future.
“It’s about now being able to sit with potential customers and ask them about their problem space, and then tell them we might have the capability to allow them to solve those problems,” Mahoney confirmed.
“The same skill-set that we need to bring to bear for Project Coorong is the same skill-set we actually need to enhance JORN under Phase 6. While the technology is not directly applicable, the means of fielding it are (and) it’s the process we run through that we will also run through for any JORN activity.”
Australian SME involvement
Mahoney is keen to underline the role that Australian industry, and in particular a range of small to medium enterprises, played in the establishment of the facility at Glendambo.
“Project Coorong demonstrates Lockheed Martin Australia’s commitment to engaging and supporting SMEs and developing their innovative ability to participate in leading edge technology. The project successfully completed its milestones ahead of schedule and in less than 12 months, while bringing on board a number of SMEs new to the program,” he said.
“From a Lockheed Martin perspective the key point is that it was completely built by Australians, by Australian small to medium enterprises. So it’s a holistic solution and we can now say that we are well along the way to having a test bed that we can talk to potential customers about and how we can potentially address their problem space.”