The AN/SPY-6, also known as the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), is an

active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

3D radar 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

under development for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

(USN). It will provide integrated

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

and

missile defense Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and also the destruction of attacking missiles. Conceived as a defense against nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), ...

for Flight III s. Variants are under development for retrofitting Flight IIA ''Arleigh Burke''s and for installation aboard s, s, and s. The first delivery of the AN/SPY-6 to the USN took place on 20 July 2020.

Development

On 10 October 2013, "

Raytheon Company The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft unti ...

(RTN) asawarded 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 Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and also the destruction of attacking missiles. Conceived as a defense against nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), ...

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventional ...

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

(AMDR-S) and Radar Suite Controller (RSC)." In September 2010, the Navy awarded technology development contracts to

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

, and

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...

to develop the S-band radar and radar suite controller (RSC).

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

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 The Aegis Combat System is an American integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and it is now produced by Lockheed Martin. Initially used by the United States Navy, Aegis is now used also by t ...

, produced by

. 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". , the program is expected to deliver 22 radars at a total cost of almost $6.6B; they will cost $300m/unit in serial production. Testing is planned for 2021 and

Initial operating capability Initial operating capability or initial operational capability (IOC) is the state achieved when a capability is available in its minimum usefully deployable form. The term is often used in government or military procurement. The United States D ...

is planned for March 2023. The Navy then was forced to halt the contract in response to a challenge by Lockheed. Lockheed officially withdrew their protest on January 10, 2014, allowing the Navy to lift the stop work order. 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.

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 Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and also the destruction of attacking missiles. Conceived as a defense against nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), ...

discrimination, and missile communications, while the

radar is to provide horizon search, precision tracking, missile communication, and terminal illumination of targets. 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. The ''Arleigh Burke'' deckhouse can only accommodate a version, but the USN claims they need a radar of or more to meet future ballistic missile threats. 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. The transmit-receive modules will use new

gallium nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it ...

(GaN) semiconductor technology, allowing for a higher power density than the previous gallium arsenide radar modules. The new radar will require twice the electrical power as the previous generation while generating over 35 times as much radar power. Although it was not an initial requirement, the AMDR may be capable of performing

electronic attack An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

s using its AESA antenna; airborne AESA radar systems, like the

APG-77 The AN/APG-77 is a multifunction low probability of intercept radar installed on the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft. The radar was designed and initially built by Westinghouse and Texas Instruments, and production continued with their respective s ...

APG-81 The AN/APG-81 is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system designed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The Joint Strike Fighter AN/APG-81 AESA radar is a result of the US government ...

, and

APG-79 The AN/APG-79 is a variant of an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar developed for the United States Navy's Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Boeing EA-18G Growler aircraft, providing a high level of aircrew situational awareness ...

used on the

F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, th ...

F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

, and

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more ad ...

EA-18G Growler The Boeing EA-18G Growler is an American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet. The EA-18G replaced the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowlers in service with the United States Navy. The ...

, respectively, have demonstrated their capability to conduct electronic attack. All the contenders for the Navy's

Next Generation Jammer The Next Generation Jammer is a program to develop an airborne electronic warfare system, as a replacement for the AN/ALQ-99 found on the EA-18G military aircraft. It will reach Initial Operating Capability in 2021. Platforms The AN/ALQ-99 is cur ...

used

Gallium Nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it ...

-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. The radar is 30 times more sensitive and can simultaneously handle over 30 times the targets of the existing

AN/SPY-1 The AN/SPY-1 is a United States Navy 3D radar system manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The array is a passive electronically scanned system and a key component of the Aegis Combat System. The system is computer controlled and uses four complement ...

D(V), allowing it to counter large and complex saturation attacks. Distributed sensing software allows AN/SPY-6 to form a network of

bistatic radar Bistatic radar is a radar system comprising a transmitter and receiver that are separated by a distance comparable to the expected target distance. Conversely, a conventional radar in which the transmitter and receiver are co-located is called ...

s, where forward-deployed sensors work in receive mode while targets are illuminated by separate transmitters at the back.

Variants

* AN/SPY-6(V)1: 4-sided

phased array radar A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscillat ...

, each with 37 RMAs. It is estimated to have a 15

dBi The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a p ...

sensitivity improvement compared to the previous generation

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. AN/SPY-6(V)1 is planned for the Flight III s. * AN/SPY-6(V)2: Otherwise known as the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR). 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. It is planned for Flight II (previously known as

LX(R) The LX(R) class (formerly LSD(X) class) is a class of amphibious warfare ships under development for the United States Navy, to be contracted from 2020, as a replacement for the current and dock landing ships. The LX(R) is expected to enter s ...

), , an , and for retrofitting s. * 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. Operating in

, it will serve as a Volume Search Radar complementing the

AN/SPY-3 The AN/SPY-3 is an active electronically scanned array radar manufactured by Raytheon and designed for both blue-water and littoral operations. Technology X band functionality (8 to 12 GHz frequency range) is optimal for minimizing low-a ...

radar on s, starting with . It is also planned as the primary multi-function radar for s, starting with lead ship . * 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.David B. Larter
With an eye to China and Russia, the US Navy plans a lethal upgrade to its destroyers
DefenseNews (Mar 21, 2019)Justin Katz
Raytheon to start backfitting destroyers with SPY-6 radar
Breaking Defense. (11 Jan 2022) * 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.

References

External links

* *
Missile Threat CSIS - Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR)
*

*
Northrop Grumman AMDR
*
Raytheon AMDR
{{United States Missile Defense Naval radars Military radars of the United States Missile defense Military equipment introduced in the 2020s

Development

Technology

Variants

See also

References

External links