Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

Having not been formally commissioned with the usual fanfare that would accompany a crucial asset for Lodamun’s defence, the Strategic Defence Agency’s floating X-band radar platform has seemingly escaped the attention of the broader public. Nonetheless, its development and commissioning represent a major milestone for the SDA in its pursuit to secure Lodamun against emerging threats. Although its exterior/outward-facing design might not lend itself to being intimidating, as say a destroyer or frigate, most notably in its lack of major offensive weaponry, the platform is no less capable of effecting significant advantages for the Lodamese defence community, primarily in detecting and tracking ballistic missiles. LSR (Lodamese Surveillance Radar) Lodestar, as it is being coined, represents the culmination of decades of research and development by the Strategic Defence Agency and associated partners, primarily Carthorn, Hemlock-Rogway and Cowgill-Masterson Maritime Engineering. It had been initially designed as a “stand-in” for the SDA in lieu of an infrared satellite infrastructure capable of detecting and tracking ballistic missile launches. With satellite infrastructure behind SENTINEL (Strategic Electronic Network for Target Interception and Early Location) currently being “built out” by the SDA and the Lodamese Space Administration, an internal review related to the platform’s performance as system which might augment the efforts of satellite infrastructure, it was decided that the system would act as a key part in the nation’s anti-ballistic missile network. 

Lodestar’s radar dome, the principal feature of the platform, is capable of detecting high-speed and tracking high-speed projectiles such as IRBMs, ICBMs and hypersonic weapons, primarily during their midcourse and terminal phases. This capability is ultimately in line with the SDA’s broader objectives to negate the effectiveness of ballistic missiles and hypersonic weaponry against Lodamun, as it provides the agency with the ability to detect said weapons beyond the range of existing radar platforms. Such a capability is likely to exist alongside the Joint Aerospace Defense Coordination System (JADC) currently being tested on the HAI (High Altitude Interceptor) system in conjunction with the GUARDIAN system, to provide Lodamese anti-defence systems with the ability to be queued in on threats beyond their systems’ range (i.e. to prepare for/anticipate when the threat eventually reaches within their respective systems’ range). Director of the SDA, General Roland Kalecki, stated that Lodestar is one of two floating X-band radar platforms to be operated by the agency in collaboration with the Lodamese Navy and Air Force. He noted that with the platform having undergone its “sea-trials”, it is likely that it could see deployment along the Lodamese coast, or in parts of the Anantonese Sea (albeit through Kalistani approval). Kalecki noted that the platform, whilst deployed, would be defended by a detachment of the agency’s APC (Asset Protection Command).