Raytheon to build two airborne AESA radar kits for F/A-18 carrier-based combat jet in $33 million order
PHILADELPHIA – Radar experts at Raytheon Technologies Corp. will provide the U.S. Navy with two AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) airborne radar weapon repairable assemblies under terms of a $33 million order announced last month.
Officials of the U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support activity in Philadelphia are asking the Raytheon Intelligence & Space segment in El Segundo, Calif., for AESA radar weapon repairable assemblies (WRAs) in support of the F/A-18 Hornet carrier-based combat jet.
The AN/APG-79 AESA radar for the U.S. Navy Boeing F/A-18E/F fighter-bomber and EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare (EW) jet provides aircrew situational awareness, near-instantaneous track updates, and multi-target tracking capability.
The APG-79 radar has an open-systems architecture and rugged commercial-off-the-shelf (R-COTS) parts. Its array has solid-state transmit and receive modules for enhanced reliability, as well as an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized R-COTS processor, and power supplies.
The APG-79 AESA airborne radar uses transmit/receive (TR) modules populated with gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). Different versions of this radar system are being upgraded with more modern gallium nitride (GaN)-based components.
The radar's active electronic beam scanning helps steer the radar beam at nearly the speed of light to optimize situational awareness and air-to-air and air-to-surface capability, Raytheon officials say. The agile beam enables the multimode radar to interleave in near-real time, so that pilot and crew can use both modes simultaneously.
The radar enables the Hornet jet to fire several missiles at once and guide them to different targets that are widely spaced in azimuth, elevation, or range.
On this order Raytheon will do the work in Forest, Miss., and should be finished by May 2026. For more information contact Raytheon Intelligence & Space online at www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com, or the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support activity-Philadelphia at www.navsup.navy.mil/NAVSUP-Enterprise/NAVSUP-Weapon-Systems-Support.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
