Next generation of Navy radar built locally to protect US military, provide jobs

ANDOVER, Mass. - Quietly built in our backyard, a new air and missile defense radar system – designed in virtual reality and produced by laser-wielding robots --  promises to make the world a safer place, according to developers.

SPY-6 was unveiled this week at Raytheon’s new $72-million facility in Andover. Boston 25 News Anchor Jacqui Heinrich got an exclusive look at how it works.

SPY-6 is designed to spot, track and defend the United States against enemy missiles, ships, and aircraft.

“The approaches we are using here are groundbreaking. They’ve never been done before,” Raytheon IDS Operations Program Manager Sarah Jennette told Heinrich.

Parts of the design and abilities of SPY-6 are classified, but developers were eager to discuss its modular build. The design allows SPY-6 to be scalable to its preferred use, whether on a giant Flight III Destroyer or on a smaller vessel.

CLOSING A CRITICAL GAP 

The U.S. Navy’s next-generation integrated air and missile defense radar is 70 times more sensitive than the radar currently being used.

The technology fills a critical gap, enabling the Navy to see a target half the size at twice the range. Developers say it’s an important tool as threats are smaller, faster, and traveling farther distances than ever before.

“It gives that warfighter the ability to see those targets much earlier and be able to react much quicker to those threats,” Raytheon Director of Naval Radar Systems, Scott Spence told Heinrich.

ROBOTS WITH LASERS

SPY-6 is so futuristic, Raytheon had to build a new manufacturing facility using robots and automation to produce it.

The design facility allows developers to build SPY-6 in its current form or a future version, which enables the radar to evolve as quickly as global threats do.

“SPY-6 is a real game changer. It really changes how many missions we can do simultaneously, and be able to protect the warfighter whether they’re on a frigate or a destroyer or a land,” Spence said.

The first SPY-6 radar array heads to the naval shipyard in 2019 to outfit all the Navy’s Flight III Destroyers. A test version is successfully tracking missile targets and aircraft in Hawaii right now.

Raytheon is looking to hire hundreds of world-class engineers across New England for positions ranging from systems engineering to software and design to help with this and other radar programs. The jobs will work on SPY-6 and several other Raytheon radars.

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Cox Media Group