Kelvin Hughes picked to deliver radar sensors for LCS, MMSC ships

Navigation and surveillance systems manufacturer Kelvin Hughes announced it has been selected by bridge integrator OSI Maritime Systems Ltd (OSI) to supply its SharpEye solid-state naval radar sensors for installation on board Lockheed Martin’s LCS 27 and four LCS-based Multi Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) vessels for Saudi Arabia.

Illustration: US Navy LCS USS Milwaukee during sea trials. Photo: Lockheed Martin

Working with OSI, Kelvin Hughes is providing the X band and S Band SharpEye sensors for integration into an IMO-approved OSI bridge and navigation system.

The systems to be delivered are for the US Navy’s future USS Nantucket (LCS 27), a Freedom variant littoral combat ship which was named by the US Navy secretary in February this year.

The multi-mission surface combatant vessels Lockheed Martin is building for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) is a derivative of the US Navy’s Freedom-variant littoral combat ships.

“The supply of SharpEye into these two high profile programs is the culmination of many years’ work with the US Navy, OSI and Lockheed Martin,” Adrian Pilbeam, vice president of Kelvin Hughes LLC said. “The future flexibility of the solid-state architecture will allow for incremental upgrades in the future with minimal hardware changes, allowing SharpEye to provide the features the US Navy requires in a surface search and navigation radar sensor both now, and in the future.”