Officials are touting the results of the first system-level tests of SPY-6(V)2, the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) at the Surface Combat System Center at Wallops Island, Va.
“Moving quickly from radar installation at Wallops Island to tracks on glass in less than three months is a major accomplishment,” Navy Capt. Jason Hall, program manager for Above Water Sensors, Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems, said regarding the joint testing initiative with Raytheon Company. “The EASR program is progressing extremely well. We are now one step closer to production and delivering the radar’s unmatched capability to the surface fleet.”
The initial test involved the radar searching for, detecting, identifying and tracking numerous targets, including commercial aircraft while the second exercise focused on the maturity of EASR integration enabling the radar to track multiple targets continuously for several hours during a test event involving another system.
There will be two EASR variants built, per officials, a single-face rotating array designated AN/SPY-6(V)2 for amphibious assault ships and Nimitz class carriers and a three fixed-face array designated AN/SPY-6(V)3 for Ford class aircraft carriers and the future FFG(X) guided missile frigates.
Both are built on scalable Radar Modular Assembly, or RMA, technology as well as a software baseline that has been matured through the development and test successes.