By Kalwinder KaurAug 2 2012
Raytheon Company has received two contracts from the U.S. Navy for the Dual Band Radar. This multi-mission air defense radar serves the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) advanced aircraft carrier.
As per this $53.6 M-worth contract, Raytheon will upgrade the system's software to have optimal power efficiency, taking the radar suite to the next level of testing and evaluation. The DBR serves to be the next-generation air defense radar that extends superior surveillance capabilities for ship self-defense and CVN 78 air operations.
The features of the X-band AN/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar and the S-band Volume Search Radar (VSR) have been integrated within this advanced radar. DBR ensures maximum performance in a wide variety of environments, catering to various mission requirements such as situational awareness, self-defense/anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, land attack, anti-surface warfare, surface search, navigation and air traffic control, and naval gunfire support.
Following the May 2010 achievement, test and evaluation will be conducted. The U.S. Navy was able to track the targets for the first time using multiband radar consisting of common radar suite controller. Concurrently, DBR employed AN/SPY-3's and VSR's search potential for obtaining and tracking the targets. Also, the system's potential to carry out automatic handover from S-band to X-band in precision-tracking mode was also demonstrated.
The DBR results from a decade long integrated effort of the Navy, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin. The radar is currently under production for the Ford class aircraft carrier, wherein six legacy radar systems will be substituted.
Source: http://www.raytheon.com/
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