Raytheon Technologies Promise to Improve Radar Affordability
(Tewksbury, Mass., July 17, 2008) -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has developed an application for a pair of emerging technologies that dramatically increases radar sensitivity while improving affordability. The effort has resulted in a $1 million contract award that could be worth more than $14 million if all options are exercised.
The Office of Naval Research awarded Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) a base contract with four options as part of its Active Electronically Scanned Lens Array (AESLA(tm)) program.
One of the technologies is a high-power transmit-receive radar module enabled by gallium nitride monolithic microwave integrated circuits, or MMICs. The other is a low-loss, reliable phase shifter employing radio frequency (RF) micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Together, they combine to form a new, low-cost AESLA architecture that can provide up to 10 times higher radar sensitivity at 40 percent lower cost compared to existing technology used in radar transmitters and receivers.
"By exploiting RF MEMS, we have created an AESLA architecture that enables next generation radars to achieve the sensitivity required to engage increasingly challenging targets," said Mark Russell, Raytheon vice president of Engineering, Technology and Mission Assurance. "What's even better is that we can deliver this considerably increased capability at a significantly lower cost in comparison to current architectures."
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