Jane Edwards
Raytheon Technologies’ intelligence and space business is integrating the gallium nitride active electronically scanned array radar as a tech upgrade to F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft to enable fourth-generation fighter jets to keep up with new platforms.
“For the U.S. armed forces and allies alike, upgrading to AESA GaN radars helps them maintain air dominance,” Thomas Shaurette, senior director of F/A-18 and global strike programs in secure sensor solutions at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, said in a statement published Thursday.
AESA radar works to help aircrews track multiple targets by enabling them to simultaneously use air-to-ground and air-to-air modes and allows users to use hundreds of transmit and receive modules in order to have greater control of a beam.
David “Smoke” Beydler, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general and now part of RI&S business development, said the APG-79(v)4 AESA radar on the F/A-18 aircraft could help keep the fighter jet relevant through 2030.
Raytheon scientists and technicians design and produce GaN-based radar components at its Andover, Massachusetts-based facility, which has the Manufacturing Readiness Level 8 designation from the Department of Defense.
