Raytheon and US Navy complete successful demonstrations of the Network Cooperative Radar program

According to information released on November 4, 2021, Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business, in partnership with the Office of U.S. Naval Research, completed successful demonstrations of the Network Cooperative Radar program, an advanced radar system solution that supports the U.S. Navy’s goal of creating distributed sensing networks to defend against evolving threats. NCR supports the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations concept by giving electromagnetic maneuver warfare capabilities to the fleet.
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Raytheon Missiles & Defense’s SPY-6(V)3 radar at the U.S. Navy’s Wallops Island Test Facility in Virginia. Tactical radars like SPY-6 will benefit from concepts developed in the Network Cooperative Radar program. (Picture source Raytheon)

During the demonstration, two surface-based radar emulators detected targets using distributed sensing capabilities. The demonstration proved that tactical radars, like SPY-6, will benefit from advanced distributed radar concepts developed in the NCR program.

“SPY-6 will provide an unprecedented level of protection to naval forces, and software updates like this demonstrate that it’s only getting better,” said Rear Adm. Seiko Okano, program executive officer for the U.S. Navy’s Integrated Warfare Systems. “Programs like NCR ensure SPY-6 will be the backbone of our distributed sensing capabilities in the future.”

Cooperative radars collaborate using distributed sensing capabilities to create a fuller picture of objects in a given coverage area. NCR-enabled sensors work together to identify and track threats, communicating real-time information to improve system performance and mission success.

“NCR furthers the development of our next-generation software-defined apertures,” said Colin Whelan, vice president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “The continued development of capabilities demonstrated by NCR will ensure SPY-6 remains the most advanced naval radar in the world.”

SPY-6 is the U.S. Navy family of radars that perform air and missile defense on seven classes of ships. The SPY-6 family is integrated, meaning they can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hostile aircraft and surface ships simultaneously. They provide several advantages over legacy radars, including significantly greater detection range, increased sensitivity and more accurate discrimination.