Raytheon Company's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) recently delivered its first revolutionary APG-79 radar to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in St. Louis.

This low rate initial production (LRIP) delivery is the first of 415 radars to be delivered to Boeing for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, with the goal of operational readiness by September 2006.

The APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system provides aircrew with greater capabilities than ever before. Aside from increased reliability, the radar provides improved situational awareness through its ability to conduct both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations almost simultaneously at greater distances.

The AESA radar can track significantly more targets than current systems and can operate in multiple modes simultaneously (real beam mapping, ground moving target, air-to-air search, etc.). They are capable of detecting stealthy cruise missiles at ranges that will permit them to be attacked.

Featuring active electronic beam scanning, which allows the radar beam to be steered at nearly the speed of light, the APG-79 offers image resolution, and targeting and tracking range, significantly greater than that of the current operationally deployed F/A-18 radar. With these enhanced capabilities, aircrews can now detect and identify targets beyond the reach of the Super Hornet’s AIM-120 Slammer missiles. Though the exact range and resolution of the radar are classified an inference can be made for the fact that the AIM-120 missile has a reported range of over 30 nm.

The APG-79’s long standoff range also allows more time for persistent target observation, information sharing, and assessment by commanders before critical decisions are made. The result: greatly increased aircraft/aircrew effectiveness and survivability.

The radar facilitates sharing information with other aircraft, both manned and unmanned. The goal is to be able to build an overall picture of the battle field using inputs from multiple AN/APG-79 radars.

Aviation Week and Space Technology has quoted US Naval officials as stating that the radar can also be used for jamming within a limited range of frequencies.

See also : Active Electronically Steered Array (AESA) Airborne Radar