Raytheon Technologies has been awarded a USD 619 M (EUR 556.54 M) contract to continue to produce AN/SPY-6(V) air and missile defence radars for the US Navy (USN), the company announced on 29 March 2023.
This is the second option exercised from a March 2022 hardware, production and sustainment contract valued up to USD 3 Bn over five years.
Raytheon has already been contracted to provide AN/SPY-6 naval radars for 29 new ships, the first of which was delivered in July 2020, but this USD 619 M contract will see the company integrate AN/SPY-6(V)4 radars onto the first Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, marking the first time this variant will be installed on a ship.
According to the US Department of Defense, this work is expected to be completed by September 2026.
The AN/SPY-6(V) is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar operating in the S-band and comprises many smaller self-contained 2 ft3 radar boxes called radar modular assemblies (RMAs): 2 ft3 boxes that can be arranged to fit on any ship and function for any mission. An AN/SPY-6 system can include as few as four RMAs or as many as 57, meaning it can go on smaller ships such as frigates and unmanned vessels as well as larger ships such as next-generation destroyers and aircraft carriers.
The AN/SPY-6(V)4 radars to be installed in the first Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers will feature a four-sided array comprising 24 RMAs.
Peter Felstead
