AMDR production outpaces US Navy shipbuilding construction

Aircraft carrier John F Kennedy is shown here being prepared for AMDR installation. Radar production is outpacing ship construction. (Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) must store Raytheon AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar (AMDR) equipment due to a lack of ready ships for installation and testing, according to a recent US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

AMDR suites are slated to be outfitted on new and upgraded USN warships, but those installations are being held up, the GAO noted in its Weapon Systems Annual Assessment, released on 2 July.

“Due to continuing shipbuilding delays and advanced radar manufacturing improvements, radar production continues to outpace ship production,” the GAO reported.

“Production mismatch has required the navy to store some delivered radars until ships become available for installation,” the GAO noted.

“To mitigate the costs of storage, in January 2025, the programme established a government-secure facility to store unclassified and classified material,” the GAO reported, adding, “The facility is currently storing eight radars and one partial system. Programme officials stated the cost to lease storage space and store the radars is USD1.6 million per year through 2030.”

AMDR programme officials told the GAO that, due to negotiated pricing, it was “significantly more cost efficient” to store the radars than to reduce procurement or stop production, according to the report.

However, the GAO said, “The programme said that updated storage costs and procuring two more radars, among other factors, contributed to the programme's increased costs.”

The current estimated overall programme acquisition cost of about USD20.1 billion is about 15% more than the estimated reported in 2025, GAO said. The current USD207.7 million per-unit cost is 13% more than the amount reported in 2025, GAO said.