Companies Protest U.S. Air Force's Radar Contract Award

Losing bidders have protested the U.S. Air Force’s contract award to Raytheon for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) program to replace the service’s primary ground-based aerial search radar. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on October 21 and 22, respectively.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., awarded Raytheon a $19.5 million contract on October 6 to build three mobile radar systems under the 3DELRR engineering and manufacturing development phase. Another three systems will follow in a low-rate initial production phase if the Air Force exercises that option, with initial operational capability planned in 2020. The service has said that it plans to buy 35 systems. The 3DELLRR radar is also being designed for export.

The new system will replace the Vietnam-era Northrop Grumman AN/TPS-75 “Tipsy 75” mobile tactical radar, a system that provides three-dimensional, 360-degree detection of airborne threats out to 240 nm. Raytheon claims that its system, which is based on gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology, will detect, identify and track drones, missiles and aircraft. All three contractors built full-scale prototypes under the previous technology development phase.

Northrop Grumman confirmed that it is protesting the contract award to the GAO but made no further comment. Lockheed Martin issued the following statement: “After a careful evaluation, Lockheed Martin has protested the award decision of the 3DELRR program. We believe that we offered the most affordable and capable solution for the program, and have strong grounds for this protest. We remain committed to supporting the Air Force and providing them with this vital long-range radar capability. We will work with our customer and wait for a final decision to be made.”

The Air Force issued a stop-work order on the program, which is typical following protests. The GAO has 100 days to dismiss or uphold a protest, giving the agency until January 29 for Northrop Grumman’s protest and a day later for Lockheed Martin’s.