Nichols Martin
Raytheon has tested the subsystems of a new surveillance radar designed to support anti-air and anti-surface warfare, electronic defense and air traffic control management functions on amphibious ships and aircraft carriers.
The Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar system, which belongs to the U.S. Navy's SPY-6 radar family, underwent subsystem tests at the Raytheon-managed Near Field Range located in Sudbury, Mass., the company said Tuesday.
A flatbed truck then transported EASR to a test tower at the Surface Combat Systems Center in Virginia, where the radar will undergo system-level testing through the end of the year.
"The scalable building block architecture developed for AN/SPY-6(V)1 enabled EASR to rapidly complete subsystem testing," said Capt. Jason Hall, program manager for above water sensors at the Navy.
Raytheon incorporated radar modular assembly technology and the SPY-6 software baseline in both variants of the EASR. The first variant is designed for Nimitz-class carriers and amphibious assault ships, while the second one is intended for Ford-class carriers and guided missile frigates.
The program will enter the production phase after the scheduled tests.
Raytheom aims to deliver EASR's single-face rotating array variant, designated AN/SPY-6(V)2, to the Navy in 2021 for deployment on the America-class amphibius assault ship LHA-8.
