2 août 2022 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Lockheed to launch space-based testbed for joint all-domain operations
The testbed is scheduled to be on orbit in time for next year's Northern Edge exercise hosted by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
25 février 2019 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
Raytheon will participate in Army missile defense radar ‘sense-off’
By: Jill Aitoro
WASHINGTON — Raytheon will participate in a missile defense radar “sense-off” to test designs that could be included in the U.S. Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense system under development.
The Army announced plans for the sense-off in October, resetting the approach for the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS, program that has struggled to bring about a new radar for well over a decade.
The sense-off is “separate and distinct” from contracts awarded to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin last fallto come up with design concepts for a new missile defense radar, according to Bob Kelly, Raytheon's director for integrated air and missile defense in the company's Integrated Defense Systems division, who spoke with reporters Thursday.
According to an Oct. 29 notice posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, the sense-off will take place this spring at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Each vendor with a radar will have roughly two weeks on the range to demonstrate capabilities. A down-select will happen by the end of the year.
“We can meet the timeline for both the sense off and initial operational capability in fiscal year 2022,” Kelly said.
However, it's unclear what this means for the prior technology development program. Kelly said that effort remains relevant, with the contract ongoing, but referred any further questions about its status to the Army.
“Our developmental efforts — what we do for one, it serves the other as well,” he said. “We were both [Raytheon and Lockheed Martin] going to develop prototypes. But with the sense-off, we're doing it faster,” and with more competitors.
The sense-off strategy accelerates the timeline by a couple of years, Kelly said.
The other lingering question is whether the LTAMDS will include 360-degree coverage — a high priority for the Army, but seemingly one downsized in importance for the LTAMDS effort.
“The threshold is not for a 360-degree radar,” Kelly said, adding that Raytheon's base design does include the capability. “We have a lot of scalability in our system, so if the Army decides they don't want [360-degree coverage], we can give them the opportunity in the future to upgrade.”
The Raytheon-made Patriot air and missile defense radar was first fielded in the 1980s, and the Army attempted to replace the system with Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System through a co-development effort with Germany and Italy. But that program was canceled in the U.S. after closing out a proof-of-concept phase roughly six years ago.
Since then, the Army has studied and debated how to replace the Patriot radar with one that has 360-degree detection capability, while Raytheon continues to upgrade its radar to keep pace with current threats. It is acknowledged that there will come a point where that radar will not be able to go up against future threats.
“The Patriot remains exceptional” today, Kelly said. “LTAMDS is looking out beyond tomorrow.”
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12 août 2022 | International, Aérospatial
ATAC awarded F-35 chase flight services contract
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5 septembre 2019 | International, C4ISR
Raytheon-FlexRadio team to develop airborne high-frequency radio
FORT WAYNE, Ind., Sep. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) will develop and qualify a high-frequency radio under a $36 million Project Agreement through an Other Transaction Agreement with Consortium Management Group. The OTA is on behalf of Consortium for Command, Control and Communications in Cyberspace, in support of requirements from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The new radio will provide beyond line-of-sight, long distance communications for aircrews. "High-frequency radios provide the military with secure communications in an increasingly complex and congested threat environment," said Barbara Borgonovi, vice president of Integrated Communication Systems. "Raytheon's partnership with FlexRadio combines commercial innovation with advanced military hardening techniques to rapidly deliver a next-generation operational capability that supports strategic and tactical missions." The Raytheon-FlexRadio team is one of two recipients for this development program. After the 31-month period of performance, one team will be named to move on to production. "Worldwide high-frequency communications is what our commercial customers do every day using virtually every mode of operation and type of propagation," said Gerald Youngblood, CEO of FlexRadio. "Our partnership brings together the vast resources and experience of Raytheon in airborne tactical communications systems with FlexRadio's commercial off-the-shelf high-frequency Software Defined Radios to deliver a modular, extensible, and flexible communications platform for the warfighter." About CMG The mission of Consortium Management Group, Inc. on behalf of Consortium for Command, Control, and Communications in Cyberspace (C5) is to speed development of technologies to improve U.S. Government capabilities required to sustain U.S. military supremacy in weapon systems information technologies. For more information on CMG and its uniquely rapid, cost-effective and collaborative acquisition vehicle for companies, nonprofits and academic organizations seeking to do business with the Federal Government, contact Mary Reinecke at mary@cmgcorp.org, 202-466-4211 About FlexRadio FlexRadio Systems is a leader in technologically advanced software defined radio systems for the consumer, commercial and government markets. Founded in 2003, FlexRadio has customers in more than 30 countries with a wide range of products spanning consumer HF radio systems, government geolocation sensors and signals intelligence platforms. FlexRadio Systems is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit www.flexradio.com. About Raytheon Raytheon Company, with 2018 sales of $27 billion and 67,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 97 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5ITM products and services, sensing, effects and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter. Media Contact B.J. Boling +1.972.952.4761 saspr@raytheon.com http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2019-09-04-Raytheon-FlexRadio-team-to-develop-airborne-high-frequency-radio