According to Kris Osborn, Military.com Daily News correspondent, the U.S. Navy is making progress developing a more sensitive, next-generation radar system engineered to integrate onto new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers by 2023.

The Air and Missile Defense Radar, or AMDR, is said to be at least 30-times more sensitive than radars configured on existing DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. «Among other things, the additional power and sensitivity will allow the ship to detect a much wider range of threats at much greater distances», said Capt. Mark Vandroff, program manager DDG 51 Shipbuilding.

«I can see a target that is half the size, twice as far away. What this means is an individual destroyer will be able to engage more ballistic missiles at the same time versus what you have today – and it will be able to engage more advanced threats because it can see them farther away», Vandroff said. «It can see smaller objects farther away so it will be better at picking out what is a threat versus what is not a threat».

«The AMDR platform, being developed by Raytheon Co. under an EMD (Engineering and Manufacturing Development) contract awarded in October 2013, will enable next-generation Flight III DDG 51s to defend much larger areas compared with the AN/SPY-1D radar on existing destroyers», Vandroff said.

The Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) Program successfully completed a Hardware Critical Design Review (CDR) in conjunction with prime contractor, Raytheon, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, December 3, 2014.

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 RMAs (Radar Modular Assemblies). Each RMA is a self-contained radar transmitter and receiver in a 2’x2’x2’ box. These RMAs stack together to fit the required array size of any ship, making AMDR the 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.