Raytheon Company’s AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar successfully completed its second live-target flight test at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii.
The system acquired and maintained the long-range missile target track from launch through flight. The test target was designed to be more complex and threat-representative than those used in previous tests.
“We are continuing to stress this radar by increasing the range and complexity of the targets and demonstrating the radar is meeting its performance requirements,” Navy Capt. Seiko Okano, major program manager for Above Water Sensors and Program Executive Office (PEO) of Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS), said. “AN/SPY-6 is the nation’s most advanced radar and will be the cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s surface combatants for many decades.”
The system completed the tracking of the first ballistic missile target in March 2017. Prior, the system was tested against increasingly complex targets.
The program achieved Milestone C, ahead of schedule and remains on track for delivery to the first DDG 51 Flight III destroyer. AN/SPY-6(V) transitioned to Low Rate Initial Production with the May 1st contract award for the first three ship sets.
The AN/SPY-6(V) is the first scalable radar built with Radar Modular Assemblies. The 2′ x 2′ x 2′ radar building blocks can be combined to build any sized radar aperture. The U.S. Navy’s new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar uses the system in a scaled nine-RMA configuration to meet the mission requirements of carriers and amphibious ships.