WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Threats such as
drones, aircraft, and cruise and ballistic missiles may
simultaneously attack deployed U.S. forces or America's allies from
multiple directions in the future. Using Raytheon Company (NYSE:
RTN) funding, an upgrade to the combat-proven Patriot Air and
Missile Defense System's radar that provides 360-degrees of
protection from those threats will soon be production ready, thanks
to a recently completed series of engineering milestones.
The milestones involve upgrading the Patriot radar main array
with Gallium Nitride- (GaN) based Active Electronically Scanned
Array (AESA) technology. Completion of those milestones keep
Raytheon engineers, who are currently constructing a GaN-based AESA
full size main panel radar array, on track to having a full-scale
main array demonstrator operational in early 2016.
"The Raytheon-developed GaN-based AESA radar builds on the more
than $150 million invested in GaN
technology, and will be a simple upgrade for the more than 220
Patriot fire units fielded by the U.S. and the 12 other Patriot
partner nations," Ralph Acaba, vice
president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's
Integrated Defense Systems business. "This upgrade is approved for
export to all current Patriot partners and a number of future
Patriot partner nations such as Poland. It enables 360-degrees of protection,
while retaining Patriot's mobility and reducing operation and
maintenance cost by as much as 50 percent."
The Raytheon-built GaN-based AESA Patriot uses three antenna
arrays mounted on a mobile radar shelter to provide 360-degrees of
radar coverage. The main AESA array is a bolt-on replacement
antenna for the current Gallium Arsenide based antenna. The
GaN-based AESA array measures roughly 9' wide x 13' tall, and is
oriented toward the primary threat. Patriot's new rear panel arrays
are a quarter the size of the main array and let the system look
behind and to the sides of the main array, enabling Patriot to
engage threats in all directions.
Earlier this year, Raytheon built a GaN-based AESA Patriot
rear-panel array, integrated it with the current Patriot radar
using the existing, recently modernized, back-end processing
hardware and software, and tracked targets of opportunity to
seamlessly create a 360-degree view.
The recently accomplished milestones include:
- Completing construction of the AESA main array structure.
- Constructing the AESA arrays' radar shelter.
- Integrating receivers and a radar digital processor into the
radar shelter.
- Delivering the shelter to Raytheon's test facility in
Pelham, N.H.
- Testing the radar's cooling sub-system.
Raytheon's GaN-based AESA Patriot radar will work with future
open architecture as Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle
Command System and retains backwards compatibility with the current
Patriot Engagement Control Station. It is also fully
interoperable with NATO.
About Global Patriot Solutions
Raytheon's Global
Patriot Solutions is the most advanced portfolio of air and missile
defense technologies in the world, providing comprehensive
protection against a full range of advanced threats including
aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned
aerial vehicles. Continually upgraded and enhanced to leverage the
latest technology, thirteen nations depend on Patriot as the
foundation for their defense.
About GaN
Raytheon has been leading the
innovation and development of GaN for 15 years and has invested
more than $150 million to get this latest technology in
the hands of the warfighter faster and at lower cost and
risk. Raytheon has demonstrated the maturity of the
technology in a number of ways, including exceeding the reliability
requirement for insertion into the production of military
systems.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales
of $23 billion and 61,000 employees
worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in
defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the
world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 years, Raytheon
provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration
and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and
command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well
as cybersecurity and a broad range of mission support services.
Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham,
Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com
and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.
Media Contact
Mike
Nachshen
+1.520.269.5697
idspr@raytheon.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aesa-radar-with-360-degrees-coverage-moves-toward-production-readiness-300158463.html
SOURCE Raytheon Company