Raytheon Missiles & Defense, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $619,242,288 fixed-price incentive (firm target) modification to previously awarded contract N00024-22-C-5500 to exercise options for hardware production of the AN/SPY-6(V) family of radars. Work is expected to be completed by September 2026. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $470,624,139 (76%); and fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $148,618,149 (24%) will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
AN/SPX-6(V) is a dual frequency band radar operating in S-Band, and X-Band based on Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR). The AMDR is the first scalable radar built with Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA). The AN/SPX-6(V) (AMDR) is comprised of 37 RMAs – which is equivalent to AN/SPY-1D(V) +15 dB in terms of sensitivity. It uses digital beamforming architecture and Gallium Nitride technology to detect missile threats over a large range and better distinguish detected objects. It acquire and track a target half the size and at twice the range compared to the AN/SPY-1, providing increased flexibility in ship operating location.
The AMDR is the first scalable radar built with Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA). Each RMA is essentially an individual radar with the dimensions of 2ft×2ft×2ft. These RMA building blocks can be combined to form various size arrays to fit the mission requirements of any ship. This common architecture ensures the radar’s extensibility and scalability to other platforms, and their particular mission requirements. The radar optimizes the effectiveness of the Navy’s most advanced weapons, including all SM-3 interceptor and SM-6 missile variants. Precise targeting information and data on incoming threats allows weapons to maximize their performance.
The AN/SPY-6 is an active electronically scanned array 3D radar under development for the U.S. Navy. 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. Although it was not an initial requirement, the SPY-6 may be capable of performing electronic attacks using its AESA antenna.
