Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

Ahead of the upcoming financial year, the Department of Defence has approved some 12 billion LOD to the Strategic Defence Agency (SDA) for the construction of a new long-range over-the-horizon radar network, which once completed would bring the Lodamese Armed Forces closer to its goal of information dominance in Seleya and the Northern Hemisphere by extension. Since the Neilson Administration, the Lodamese Armed Forces, particularly the Lodamese Air Force and Army have sought, albeit clandestinely, to observe and experiment with varying strategies to ensure Lodamun is capable of maintaining a degree of situational awareness in the various domains of the combat. These experiments ultimately birthed concepts such as the Triton long-range maritime patrol drone being deployed by the Lodamese Coast Guard and Navy in a surveillance capacity in the Mad Dog Ocean, the Arctic and other regions. Additionally, it resulted in the Lodamese Air Force’s acquisition of AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) aircraft to assist in patrolling various sectors of Lodamese and North Seleyan airbase, alongside the Lodamese Navy’s airborne maritime patrols in the Artanian Sea and the South Ocean. Yet, even with these advances, the Department of Defence has previously expressed concern related to the nation’s chronic underinvestment in land-based radar. In a now declassified DoD report, it was discovered that there exists numerous gaps in Lodamun’s aerospace as well as maritime defence capabilities. It notes that although AEW&C had supplemented the efforts of a long-range, land-based radar network, it was nonetheless important for the nation to maintain the ability to monitor and track the movements of air and naval assets in varying directions, particularly in the South-West in the Artanian Sea, the North in the Arctic and beyond the Karzon Strait and to the East in the Anantonese Ocean. “The pursuit of information dominance, i.e. superiority in the generation, manipulation, and use of information sufficient to afford its possessors military dominance, must therein become the business of all branches of the Armed Forces as well as the agencies which support its operations. Historic underinvestment in such capabilities has placed Lodamun at particular risk, especially amidst the advent of long-range beyond visual range weaponry by various regional and extra-regional adversaries,” the DoD report read.

Last year, the Strategic Defence Agency unveiled to the National Congress, advanced plans for the development of a long-range over-the-horizon radar network, which would provide Lodamun with the very capability as described in the DoD report. The plans had been developed by the SDA in collaboration with the Armed Forces Projects Agency (AFPA) as part of the latter’s Advanced Operational Radar (AOR) programme. In documents received by the National Congress, the Director of the SDA ADM. Richard Ebaugh stated that the partnership with the AFPA had been made possible through overtures from the DoD towards greater collaboration between the Department’s subordinate agencies and the AFPA. “The AFPA remains one of our most capable partners in strategic defence. Although the application of over-the-horizon radar had been conceptualised in the SDA, the systems and technologies as proposed were developed by a dedicated team from the AFPA,” ADM. Ebaugh’s submission read. The Lodamese Advanced Operation Radar Array (LAORA), as the system is being coined, is likely to become the first such system on the Seleyan continent. Congressional documents detailed how LAORA’s over-the-horizon capability is made possible: A strong shortwave signal from a large transmitting antenna reaches a target beyond the horizon by bending off the ionosphere, and the target's echo returns to the receiving antenna via the same path. As the Lodamese Air Force does not maintain any space-based sensors, ADM. Ebaugh believes that LAORA could temporarily augment such a capability. “We are aware of current efforts by the Lodamese Air Force to begin work on building out much of the infrastructure/hardware for a space-based sensor network, (as the SDA is directly connected to this project as its joint manager), LAORA could potentially augment such a capability until it has been acquired and fully integrated into our current systems,” ADM. Ebaugh explained. He noted that considerations related to the proliferation of hypersonic weaponry by regional contemporaries, namely Baltusia remain of great concern to the SDA and thus LAORA is being developed to track such threats. “We are cognizant of the advances in hypersonic weaponry in Baltusia, whether there is merit to those advances is another thing, however, we view it necessary to prepare for the inevitability of these threats emerging,” Ebaugh said.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Defence and National Security have granted approval for the construction of an initial radar array in western Lodamun (Berkwaki) with the intent of having said radar facing the Artanian Sea. According to the mockups from the SDA, such an array would allow for Lodamun to see well into Keymon and the Artanian Sea, both its eastern and western limits. “Persistent monitoring of marine and air traffic in the Artanian Sea is the ultimate goal of LAORA in this space. Although it can be calibrated to also focus on ballistic missile threats, our assessment of current ballistic missile threats are unlikely owing to our relations with the handful of states that possess such a capability,” Chairman of the Combined Chiefs, General Kristian Harding explained. Harding noted that there were advanced plans for Lodamun to cooperate with Kalistan on continental defence, particularly in radar and sensors. “What I do know is that the SDA is likely to cooperate with the Kalistani Armed Forces in the future, especially on technical matters related to radar. An early warning capability for Northern Seleya has always been something both our nations have eyed, and I’m sure the SDA is keen to get to work on achieving that goal,” he added. Construction of the array itself is expected to begin next year with the Defence Procurement Administration set to select two contractors to work jointly on the project. Concurrently, Burrell Systems and Herelow International are in the running for the contract, however, unconfirmed rumours point to Harrington Dynamics as having a potential interest in the project