2019 Surface Navy Symposium
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) is quickening its pace of work to support its US Navy customer’s expanding requirements for AN/SPY-6(V) air and missile defence radar family variants. The Raytheon division is on contract to deliver four ship sets of the AN/SPY-6(V1) air and missile defence radar (AMDR) to the service, with first set delivery expected in early April 2020 for installation at Huntington Ingalls on DDG 125 [USS JACK H. LUCAS].
“We anticipate three more ship sets being awarded this April,” Scott Spence, Director of Naval Radar Systems for Raytheon IDS, said. Raytheon will also deliver an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) to the Surface Combat Systems Center Wallops Island, Virginia in early 2019, for developmental testing 3. That testing is set to begin in the March to June 2019 timeframe.
Additionally, the company is expecting a long-lead material contract for EASR this summer or fall for the first production options. Raytheon is building two variants of EASR: SPY-6(V)2, a rotating, single-face radar for amphibious warfare ships; and SPY-6(V)3, using three fixed panel antennas, for aircraft carriers. USS BOUGAINVILLE [LHA 8] is expected to be the first ship to receive EASR.
Mr Spence continued: “We have a broad consortium of suppliers which provide capabilities to us for AN/SPY-6, from very small businesses up to large ones – Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, for example.”
Of equal significance, EASR has been designated by the US Navy as its air surveillance radar for its evolving FFG(X) multi-mission guided-missile frigate programme. A large percentage of AN/SPY-6 work will be completed at Raytheon’s Radar Development Facility (Andover, Massachusetts). The investments in automation and other forward-leaning enhancements at this facility are resulting in significant returns on investment.
In one instance, Raytheon is, “delivering radars 24-30 months from contract award,” the industry veteran added. Raytheon is meeting the service’s surging demand for AN/SPY-6s by building additional capacity by way of a second factory in Forest, Mississippi. The new Raytheon facility will open in 2021.
Marty Kauchak