The U.S. Navy successfully conducted a flight test March 15 with the AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) off the west coast of Hawaii.
During a flight test designated Vigilant Hunter, the AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR searched for, detected and maintained track on a short-range ballistic missile target launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. This is the first in a series of ballistic missile defense flight tests planned for the AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR.
«This marked a historic moment for the Navy. It’s the first time a ballistic missile target was tracked by a wideband digital beamforming radar», said U.S. Navy Captain Seiko Okano, Major Program Manager for Above Water Sensors, Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems. «This radar will revolutionize the future of the U.S. Navy and is bringing a capability our Nation needs today».
Based on preliminary data, the test met its primary objectives. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.
The culmination of over a decade of rigorous engineering and testing effort in advanced radar technology, AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR is being designed for the DDG 51 Flight III destroyer to provide the U.S. Navy with state-of-the-art technology for Integrated Air and Missile Defense.
Program Executive Office (PEO) Integrated Warfare Systems, an affiliated PEO of the Naval Sea Systems Command, manages surface ship and submarine combat technologies and systems and coordinates Navy enterprise solutions across ship platforms.
AN/SPY-6(V) provides greater capability – in range, sensitivity and discrimination accuracy – than currently deployed radars, increasing battlespace, situational awareness and reaction time to effectively counter current and future threats. It is the first scalable radar, built with Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA) – radar building blocks. Each RMA, roughly 2′ x 2′ x 2′ in size, is a standalone radar that can be grouped to build any size radar aperture, from a single RMA to configurations larger than currently fielded radars. The U.S. Navy’s new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar leverages the highly-scalable design and mature technologies of AN/SPY-6 in a scaled nine-RMA configuration to meet the mission requirements of carriers and amphibious ships. The commonality – in both hardware and software – with AN/SPY-6 offers a host of advantages, including maintenance; training; logistics; and lifecycle support.
The Air and Missile Defense Radar is the U.S. Navy’s next generation integrated air and missile defense radar. It enhances ships’ abilities to detect air, surface and ballistic missile targets