WASHINGTON — The US Navy and RTX’s Raytheon recently completed the “first live test” of the SPY-6(V)4 radar at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, according to a company announcement.
“The successful live demonstration of the SPY-6(V)4 radar is a major step forward in advancing the capabilities of today’s fleet and supporting allied operations worldwide,” Barbara Borgonovi, president of Naval Power at Raytheon, said in a statement. “The radar will allow existing U.S. Navy Flight IIA Destroyers to significantly upgrade their detection and tracking capabilities, allowing sailors to more effectively monitor and respond to potential threats in real-time.”
Raytheon is the prime contractor for the SPY-6 family of radars of which the Navy plans to install four different variants across its fleet to track and defend against various ballistic missile threats. SPY-6(V)4 is designed to be equipped on the Navy’s Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and is capable of tracking ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles as well as anti-surface and anti-air threats.
“During multiple tests over open water, the radar successfully tracked air and surface targets under various conditions. These tests demonstrated the radar’s advanced tracking capabilities across different mission scenarios and validated years of modeling and simulation work,” according to a Raytheon statement. “Additionally, the tests yielded the first live data set for the (V)4 configuration, which will help refine the system for future testing and eventual shipboard deployment.”
Breaking Defense previously reported the Navy awarded Raytheon a $3.2 billion contract in 2022 for the hardware production and sustainment of all four variants of SPY-6 to be delivered to 31 Navy ships over the next five years.