"We have active campaigns on both ," he said. Kula declined to specify which operators the company expected to sign up, except to say that "the most likely" first recipients of both the F-16 and F/A-18 radars would be Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Speaking on 22 June, Mark Kula, Vice President for Tactical Airborne Systems at Raytheon, said: " Within the year we hope to have some sort of go ahead on a production contract for RACR. Raytheon is poised to announce the first customer for its active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar upgrade for the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon and Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornet combat aircraft, a senior programme official told Jane's at the Paris Air Show. Gareth Jennings Jane's Aviation Desk Editor "Any type of AESA would be greatly needed and the capability it brings would be significant."Ĭitation : Raytheon close to revealing first customer for upgraded AESA radar "The capability that RACR brings would definitely help," he says. Murphy notes that such a system would prove ideal in a combat scenario on the Korean peninsula as a counter-artillery system. The flights also showed that RACR could be integrated into the F-16's joint helmet mounted cueing system, allowing the pilot to cue the sensor with a head turn. In only six flights, Raytheon tested several modes on RACR, including aerial search and track, synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indicator. Raytheon skipped the traditional step of installing the radar on a testbed aircraft, with Northrop having previously tested its SABR on a company-owned business jet.īut, Murphy explains, RACR could be integrated quickly because of its commonality with the APG-79 and Raytheon's experience with retrofitting an AESA on F/A-18E/Fs. Murphy acknowledges the RACR schedule was accelerated for a demonstration programme. Most recently, Raytheon completed six flights with the RACR installed on a USAF F-16. Northrop offers the Scaleable Agile Beam Radar (SABR), which is derived from the APG-81 on the Lockheed F-35 and APG-80 on the F-16 Block 60.īoth companies have now integrated their AESA candidates on an F-16. Last month, Dave Wallace, the company's manager for F-16 sensor programme development, said a USAF decision to launch an AESA-retrofit programme is "right on the edge of their tongue". Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, has predicted the US Air Force could move first. Murphy declines to cite specific countries, but Raytheon is known to have received export licenses to market RACR to Greece and South Korea. "The international side realises they need to get out in front of the US ," Murphy says. The first customer for the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR), which shares 90% commonality with the APG-79 AESA aboard the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, may come from abroad, says Ken Murphy, a member of Raytheon's capture team. Raytheon, Northrop Grumman take opposite paths on F-16 AESA salesĪs rivals in a race to open an international market for retrofitting active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars on Lockheed Martin F-16s, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are looking for customers in opposite locations. En tout cas des clients potentiels y´en a,reste a voir aller avec 2 clients sur RACR ou attendre pour aller avec USAF on SABR,s´ils decident d´AESA-iser leur flotte.
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