The Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is the U.S. Navy’s next generation integrated air and missile defense radar. It is currently planned to be deployed on the Arleigh Burke class Destroyers DDG-51 Flight III beginning in 2016.

The radar significantly enhances the ships’ abilities to detect air and surface targets as well as the ever-proliferating ballistic missile threats.

Raytheon AMDR provides greater detection ranges and increased discrimination accuracy compared to the AN/SPY-1D(V) radar onboard today’s destroyers. The system is built with individual «building blocks» called Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA). Each RMA is a self-contained radar transmitter and receiver in a 2’×2’×2’ box. These RMAs stack together to fit the required array size of any ship, making AMDR the U.S. Navy’s first truly scalable radar.

This advanced radar comprises:

• S-band radar – a new, integrated air and missile defense radar;
• X-band radar – a horizon-search radar based on existing technology;
• The Radar Suite Controller (RSC) – a new component to manage radar resources and integrate with the ship’s combat management system.

AMDR Advantages:

• Scalable to suit any size aperture or mission requirement;
• Over 30 times more sensitive than AN/SPY-1D(V);
• Can simultaneously handle over 30 times the targets than AN/SPY-1D(V) to counter large and complex raids;
• Adaptive digital beamforming and radar signal/data processing functionality is reprogrammable to adapt to new missions or emerging threats.

AMDR’s performance and reliability are a direct result of more than 10 years of investment in core technologies, leveraging development, testing and production of high-powered Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors, distributed receiver exciters, and adaptive digital beamforming. AMDR’s GaN components cost 34% less than Gallium Arsenide alternatives, deliver higher power density and efficiency, and have demonstrated meantime between failures at an impressive 100 million hours.

AMDR has a fully programmable, back-end radar controller built out of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) x86 processors. This programmability allows the system to adapt to emerging threats. The commercial nature of the x86 processors simplifies obsolescence replacement – as opposed to costly technical refresh/upgrades and associated downtime – savings that lower radar sustainment costs over each ship’s service life.

Raytheon AMDR has an extremely high-predicted operational availability due to the reliable GaN transmit/receive modules, the low mean-time-to-repair rate, and a very low number of Line Replaceable Units (LRU). Designed for maintainability, standard LRU replacement in the RMA can be accomplished in under six minutes – requiring only two tools.

The Air and Missile Defense Radar is expected to meet the U.S. Navy’s current and future mission requirements – and will be ready to protect against the threats of today and tomorrow.

 

Description

The Air and Missile Defense Radar suite is being developed to fulfill Integrated Air and Missile Defense requirements for multiple ship classes. AMDR will provide multi-mission capabilities, simultaneously supporting long range, exoatmospheric detection, tracking and discrimination of ballistic missiles, as well as Area and Self Defense against air and surface threats.

For the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) capability, increased radar sensitivity and bandwidth over current radar systems are needed to detect, track and support engagements of advanced ballistic missile threats at the required ranges, concurrent with Area and Self Defense against Air and Surface threats.

For the Area Air Defense and Self Defense capability, increased sensitivity and clutter capability is needed to detect, react to, and engage stressing Very Low Observable/Very Low Flyer (VLO/VLF) threats in the presence of heavy land, sea, and rain clutter. This effort provides for the development of an active phased array radar with the required capabilities to address the evolving threat.

 

Background

In June 2009, after full and open competition, the program awarded three AMDR-S/RSC concept study contracts to Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. Each of the three contractors developed concepts for AMDR showing the major subsystems and expected features of the AMDR Suite. The Concept Studies phase concluded December 2009.

In September 2010, three Technology Development (TD) contracts were awarded to refine each contractors design concepts developed during the Concept Studies phase and to also mature key technologies. The program completed TD contracts in September 2012 and released a Request for Proposals for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (E&MD) Phase in June 2012. Offeror proposals were received in July 2012 and the program office conducted an exhaustive and comprehensive review of proposals.

AMDR successfully completed Milestone B in September 2013 and was authorized for entry into the E&MD Phase and designated an ACAT ID program in the Acquisition Decision Memorandum, dated 4 October 2013. The E&MD contract was awarded to Raytheon Company in October 2013.

 

Raytheon’s Advanced Air and Missile Defense Radar Key to Integrated Defense

 

As the world’s premier supplier of naval and maritime sensor solutions, Raytheon is providing innovative, affordable and breakthrough capabilities to the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (DDG 51) with the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR)

 

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