AN/SPY-6

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This article is about Air and Missile Defense Radar. For Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges, see Dietary Reference Intake.
AN/SPY-6
DDG 124 with AMDR highlighted.png
Artist rendering of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer with AN/SPY-6 highlighted
Country of originUnited States
TypeAir and missile defense active electronically scanned array 3D radar
FrequencyS band
Azimuth0–360°
ElevationHorizon–zenith
Other Names
  • Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR)
  • Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR)

The AMDR (Air and Missile Defense Radar, now officially named AN/SPY-6)[1] is an active electronically scanned array[2] air and missile defense 3D radar under development for the United States Navy (USN).[3] It will provide integrated air and missile defense for Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.[4] Variants are under development for retrofitting Flight IIA Arleigh Burkes and for installation aboard Constellation-class frigates, Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, and San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks.

The first delivery of the AN/SPY-6 to the USN took place on 20 July 2020.[5]

Development

AN/SPY-6 system overview.

On 10 October 2013, "Raytheon Company (RTN) [was] awarded an almost $386m cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase design, development, integration, test, and delivery of Air and Missile Defense S-band Radar (AMDR-S) and Radar Suite Controller (RSC)."[6] In September 2010, the Navy awarded technology development contracts to Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon to develop the S-band radar and radar suite controller (RSC). X-band radar development reportedly will come under separate contracts. The Navy hopes to place AMDR on Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, possibly beginning in 2016. Those ships currently mount the Aegis Combat System, produced by Lockheed Martin.[7]

In 2013, the Navy cut almost $10B from the cost of the program by adopting a smaller less capable system that will be challenged by "future threats".[8] As of 2013, the program is expected to deliver 22 radars at a total cost of almost $6.6B; they will cost $300m/unit in serial production.[9] Testing is planned for 2021 and Initial operating capability is planned for March 2023.[9] The Navy then was forced to halt the contract in response to a challenge by Lockheed.[10] Lockheed officially withdrew their protest on January 10, 2014,[11] allowing the Navy to lift the stop work order.[12]

In March 2022, Raytheon announced an $3.2B contract to outfit every new surface ship in the US Navy with the SPY-6 family of radars.[13][14]

Technology

The AMDR system consists of two primary radars and a radar suite controller (RSC) to coordinate the sensors. An S-band radar is to provide volume search, tracking, ballistic missile defense discrimination, and missile communications, while the X-band radar is to provide horizon search, precision tracking, missile communication, and terminal illumination of targets.[7] The S-band and X-band sensors will also share functionality, including radar navigation, periscope detection, and missile guidance and communication. AMDR is intended as a scalable system, with each sensor array assembled from Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA), self-contained radar modules.[1] The Arleigh Burke deckhouse can only accommodate a 4.3 m (14 ft) version, but the USN claims they need a radar of 6.1 m (20 ft) or more to meet future ballistic missile threats.[9] This would require a new ship design; Ingalls has proposed the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock as the basis for a ballistic missile defense cruiser with 6.1 m (20 ft) AMDR. To cut costs, the first 12 AMDR sets will have an X-band component based on the existing SPQ-9B rotating radar, to be replaced by a new X-band radar in set 13 that will be more capable against future threats.[9] The transmit-receive modules will use new gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology,[9] allowing for a higher power density than the previous gallium arsenide radar modules.[15] The new radar will require twice the electrical power as the previous generation while generating over 35 times as much radar power.[16]

Although it was not an initial requirement, the AMDR may be capable of performing electronic attacks using its AESA antenna; airborne AESA radar systems, like the APG-77, APG-81, and APG-79 used on the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, and F/A-18 Super Hornet/EA-18G Growler, respectively, have demonstrated their capability to conduct electronic attack. All the contenders for the Navy's Next Generation Jammer used Gallium Nitride-based (GaN) transmit-receiver modules for their EW systems, which enables the possibility that the high-power GaN-based AESA radar used on Flight III ships can perform the mission. Precise beam steering could attack air and surface threats with tightly directed beams of high-powered radio waves to electronically blind aircraft, ships, and missiles.[17]

The radar is 30 times more sensitive and can simultaneously handle over 30 times the targets of the existing AN/SPY-1D(V), allowing it to counter large and complex saturation attacks.[18]

Distributed sensing software allows AN/SPY-6 to form a network of bistatic radars, where forward-deployed sensors work in receive mode while targets are illuminated by separate transmitters at the back.[19][20]

Variants

  • AN/SPY-6(V)1: 4-sided phased array radar, each with 37 RMAs. It is estimated to have a 15 dBi sensitivity improvement compared to the previous generation AN/SPY-1 radar, or capable of detecting targets half the size at twice the distance. It is capable of simultaneous defense against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, air, and surface threats, as well as performing electronic warfare.[1] AN/SPY-6(V)1 is planned for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
  • AN/SPY-6(V)2: Otherwise known as the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR).[21] Rotating and scaled-down version with 9 RMAs estimated to have the same sensitivity as AN/SPY-1D(V) while being significantly smaller. It is capable of simultaneous defense against cruise missiles, air, and surface threats, as well as performing electronic warfare.[1] It is planned for Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock (previously known as LX(R)),[22] USS Bougainville (LHA-8), an America-class amphibious assault ship,[23] and for retrofitting Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.[24][25]
  • AN/SPY-6(V)3: A 3-sided phased array fixed version of the EASR, each with 9 RMAs. It has the same capabilities as AN/SPY-6(V)2.[1] Operating in S-band, it will serve as a Volume Search Radar complementing the AN/SPY-3 X-band radar on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, starting with USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).[23] It is also planned as the primary multi-function radar for Constellation-class frigates,[26] starting with lead ship USS Constellation (FFG-62).
  • AN/SPY-6(V)4: A 4-sided phased array radar with 24 RMAs. Similarly to AN/SPY-6(V)1, it is capable of simultaneous defense against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, air and surface threats, as well as performing electronic warfare. It is planned to be retrofitted on Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.[1][27][28]
  • A proposed 69 RMAs version is estimated to have 25 dBi sensitivity improvement over the AN/SPY-1, or capable of detecting targets half the size at almost four times the distance.[1][failed verification]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "U.S. Navy's SPY-6 Family of Radars". Raytheon Missiles & Defense. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  2. ^ "The US Navy -- Fact File: Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR)". Archived from the original on 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  3. ^ "AMDR Competition: The USA's Next Dual-Band Radar". Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  4. ^ "Exhibit R-2A, RDT&E Project Justification: PB 2011 Navy" (PDF). 2010-03-15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  5. ^ "US Navy takes delivery of new, more powerful radar". Defense News. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Raytheon awarded US Navy next generation Air and Missile Defense Radar contract - Yahoo Finance". Archived from the original on 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
  7. ^ a b "New Radar Development Continues for U.S. Navy". Defense News. Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  8. ^ ""NavWeek: Radar Shove."". Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  9. ^ a b c d e "GAO-13-294SP DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs" (PDF). US Government Accountability Office. March 2013. pp. 117–8. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  10. ^ Shalal-Esa, Andrea (23 October 2013). "U.S. Navy orders Raytheon to halt radar work after protest". www.reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  11. ^ McCarthy, Mike (10 January 2014). "Lockheed Martin Drops Protest On Award Of Navy's New Shipboard Radar". Defense Daily. Defense Daily Network. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  12. ^ LaGrone, Sam (13 January 2014). "Lockheed Martin Drops Protest over Next Generation Destroyer Radar". news.usni.org. US Naval Institute News. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  13. ^ "Raytheon Missiles & Defense wins $651 million SPY-6 radar contract". Raytheon Missiles & Defense. 31 March 2022. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Raytheon Missiles & Defense awarded $651 million to produce SPY-6 radars for next-gen US Navy ships". Raytheon Technologies. 31 March 2022. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022.
  15. ^ "The Heart of the Navy's Next Destroyer". July 30, 2013.
  16. ^ Filipoff, Dmitry (4 May 2016). "CIMSEC Interviews Captain Mark Vandroff, Program Manager DDG-51, Part 1". cimsec.org. CIMSEC. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  17. ^ Navy’s Next Generation Radar Could Have Future Electronic Attack Abilities - News.USNI.org, 17 January 2014
  18. ^ Eshel, Tamir (May 12, 2015). "Raytheon's next generation naval radar passes milestone".
  19. ^ "Raytheon Missiles & Defense, Office of Naval Research test new distributed sensing software for SPY-6". Raytheon Missiles & Defense. 4 November 2021. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Q&A on Distributed Maritime Operations". Raytheon Missiles & Defense. 12 January 2022. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022.
  21. ^ "SAS 2019 Day 2 - SPY-6, NSM for USMC, PGK, Freedom LCS & FFG(X), Navantia". YouTube. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  22. ^ "Navy C4ISR and Unmanned Systems". Sea Power 2016 Almanac. Navy League of the U.S. January 2016. p. 91. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  23. ^ a b "Raytheon Awarded $92M Navy Contract for Future Carrier Radars". USNI News. August 22, 2016.
  24. ^ Tyler Rogoway. Behold The Navy’s New Radar For Nimitz Class Carriers And Amphibious Assault Ships. The War Zone (Aug 21, 2019)
  25. ^ "Raytheon Missiles & Defense, US Navy complete testing on Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar". Raytheon Missiles & Defense. 2 August 2021. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022.
  26. ^ Vavasseur, Xavier, ed. (18 January 2018). "SNA 2018: Contenders for the U.S. Navy FFG(X) Frigate Program". Navy Recognition. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  27. ^ David B. Larter. With an eye to China and Russia, the US Navy plans a lethal upgrade to its destroyers. DefenseNews (Mar 21, 2019)
  28. ^ Justin Katz. Raytheon to start backfitting destroyers with SPY-6 radar. Breaking Defense. (11 Jan 2022)

External links

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