Navy League 2023: US Navy task order calls for DDG(X) radar analysis

The radar modular assembly structure is the building block for SPY-6 radar scalability. (Raytheon)

Raytheon is working under a US Navy task order to analyse whether the service's future proposed guided-missile destroyer (DDG(X)) fleet should be outfitted with a radar that has 37 radar modular assemblies (RMAs) or 57 RMAs, said Mike Mills, Raytheon's senior director of naval radars.

Each RMA is a self-contained radar antenna in a 2×2×2 inch (5×5×5 cm) box, according to Raytheon. The RMAs stack together – are scaled – to fit the mission requirements of any ship.

“There's a lot of capacity with a 37 RMA,” Mills told Janes during a 27 March interview in advance of the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2023 Global Maritime Exposition, held in National Harbor, Maryland, from 3 April.

“With the 57 RMA, you could look at different threats [and] theatres – some things the navy would like to see that we can't see today,” he said.

He added, “This gives them some options. It's all about the radar – you search, you detect, and you counteract. It's all about reach – the bigger the radar, the more power it puts out [and] the farther it can see. When you start thinking hypersonics, you want to see as far as you can [to] give you more time to be on [the] offensive than defensive. It allows [the] navy to make decisions quickly. What they love about [the] current Flight II ship [is that] it gives them a lot of time – carrying more offensive weapons on the ship puts them on more offensive, which is the key.”