The U.S. Navy and Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business, completed a series of tests on the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar at the U.S. Navy’s Wallops Island Test Facility in Virginia. The tests validated the performance of EASR’s two variants: the SPY-6(V)2 rotating and SPY-6(V)3 fixed-face radars. The two EASR radars are the newest sensors in the SPY-6 family. SPY-6(V)2 and SPY-6(V)3 provide simultaneous anti-air and anti-surface warfare capabilities, including detecting and tracking uncrewed aerial vehicles, electronic protection, and air traffic control for aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare ships.
“EASR has proven it performs in high-clutter and dense tracking environments,” said Capt. Jason Hall, Above-Water Sensors program manager at the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems. “Teams continue to improve and enhance the system, and will integrate the radar with the combat management system using land-based testing.”
“EASR development is progressing rapidly because our engineers are applying knowledge they’ve gained from the SPY-6 family,” said Kim Ernzen, vice president of Naval Power at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “SPY-6’s common architecture saves time and money, and it streamlines training and logistics across software and hardware systems.”
The recent tests concentrated on anti-air warfare, air traffic control operations and power system modeling for SPY-6(V)2 and SPY-6(V)3 radars. EASR will replace single-function legacy radars, improving range and performance. The AN/SPY-6(V)2 will be installed on amphibious assault ships and Nimitz class carriers. The AN/SPY-6(V)3 will be incorporated on Ford class aircraft carriers and is compatible with frigates for international navies. AN/SPY-6(V)3 will be a centerpiece of the U.S. Navy’s new Constellation class frigates (FFG 62). Raytheon Missiles & Defense and the U.S. Navy completed engineering and manufacturing developmental testing for EASR in March 2020. In July 2020, the Navy awarded the company a $126 million contract to produce four SPY-6(V)2 rotators and two SPY-6(V)3 fixed-faced radars.
