The first delivery of the AN/SPY-6 to the USN took place on 20 July 2020.[4]
Development
AN/SPY-6 system overview.
In 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 DefenseS-bandRadar (AMDR-S) and Radar Suite Controller (RSC)."[5] 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.[6]
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".[7]As of 2013[update], the program is expected to deliver 22 radars at a total cost of almost $6.6B. They will cost $300m/unit in serial production.[8] Testing is planned for 2021 and Initial operating capability is planned for March 2023.[8]
The Navy was forced to halt the contract in response to a challenge by Lockheed.[9] Lockheed officially withdrew their protest in January 2014,[10] allowing the Navy to lift the stop work order.[11]
In March 2022, Raytheon announced a $3.2B contract to outfit every new surface ship in the US Navy with the SPY-6 family of radars.[12][13]
Technology
The SPY-6 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.[6] The S-band and X-band sensors will also share functionality, including radar navigation, periscope detection, and missile guidance and communication. SPY-6 is intended as a scalable system, with each sensor array assembled from Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA), self-contained radar modules.[14]
The Arleigh Burke deckhouse can only accommodate a 4.3m (14ft) version, but the USN claims they need a radar of 6.1m (20ft) or more to meet future ballistic missile threats.[8] 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 6.1m (20ft) SPY-6. To cut costs, the first 12 SPY-6 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.[8]
The transmit-receive modules will use new gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology,[8] 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 SPY-6 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-18E/F 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: Also known as the Air and Missile Defense Radar(AMDR).[21] It is 4-sided phased array radar, each with 37 RMAs. It is estimated to have a 15 dB sensitivity improvement compared to the previous generation AN/SPY-1 radar, or capable of detecting targets half the size at twice the distance.[22] It is capable of simultaneous defense against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, air and surface threats, as well as performing electronic warfare.[14] AN/SPY-6(V)1 is planned for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-classdestroyers.
AN/SPY-6(V)4: A 4-sided phased array, each 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.[14][29][30]
A proposed version with 69 RMAs on each side is estimated to have 25dB sensitivity improvement over the AN/SPY-1, or capable of detecting targets half the size at almost four times the distance.[31][32]
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