US Navy bolsters legacy SPY radar maintenance as SPY-6 nears IOC

The US Navy wants to improve the way it stockpiles spares for early SPY-1 radars, like the one on USS Laboon, shown here operating in the Red Sea. (Michael Fabey)

The US Navy's AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar (AMDR) suite is on schedule for its initial operational capability (IOC), USN officials told Janes,adding that the service must to improve older AN/SPY-1 maintenance efforts given recent heavy deployment of vessels with those sensors in Middle Eastern waters.

“SPY-6 radar is on track to complete the at-sea test campaign and reach [IOC] in fiscal year (FY) 2027,” a senior USN official told Janes on 4 May. “Simultaneously, the navy is ensuring the SPY-1 radar remains combat-credible through the 2060s by expanding organic depot capacity and returning to sailor-led intermediate maintenance,” the official said.

“We are also engaging industry to address part shortages, re-engineer obsolete parts, and establishing a robust inventory of battlefield spares, such as arrays, to facilitate rapid repairs in theatre,” the official said.

“I'm not satisfied with the amount of no-bid parts that are returned on the SPY[-1] radar,” Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James Kilby testified on 15 April to the House Armed Services Committee Readiness Subcommittee.

“We need to really look forward to 2060,” Adm Kilby said. “What's it going to take to maintain this radar until 2060 — notwithstanding all the work that's happened in the last ... two years in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Oman, in the Eastern Med[iterranean] where our ships had performed.” Adm Kilby noted, “That SPY radar ... is critical to close the fire control loop whether I'm countering a ballistic missile or an anti-ship cruise missile. It is the reason that ship exists.”