NEW RADAR FOR THE PATRIOT DEFENSE SYSTEM

[Pilot_SA]

The view from the hill at Raytheon’s
radar-testing field in Pelham, New Hampshire, is impressive, with a New England sky and rolling forests that seem to stretch forever.

But the vistas are even better for the olive-green machine that stares skyward from atop that hill. It is the first iteration of a missile defense radar with active electronically scanned array technology -- an upgrade that allows better focusing of the beam, wider peripheral vision and less maintenance downtime. New panels mounted on the back will enable a 360-degree view.

The improvements aim to keep Patriot far ahead of 21st-century airborne threats such as growing arsenals of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and unmanned air vehicles, or UAVs.

“You’ve got a lot of bad guys out there making lots of missiles and UAVs, and you need stuff that can counteract those,” said Norm Cantin, who led the upgrade effort. “We call it overmatching … you always have to stay ahead of the bad guys."

The radar improves upon the older "space-fed" system, in which a single transmitter generates a large amount of power and pushes it through a transmitting array. The array then acts like a lens and focuses the energy into the battlefield. The AESA radar, by contrast, has multiple, individually powered transmitters behind each element of the radar -- a design that allows better control of the beam and helps the radar track multiple targets simultaneously.

Another key component of the upgrade is gallium nitride, a semiconductor substance that amplifies high-powered radio frequency signals at microwave frequencies. Gallium nitride, commonly called GaN, enables Raytheon to outfit systems with smaller antennas, providing flexibility, greater transportability and lower operations and maintenance costs.

Improving the radar will buy warfighters valuable time to react to threats, and will allow them to take full advantage of modern missile interceptors and their increased range.

“You want the radar to look far enough so that missile can get there and intercept a target farther out,” Cantin said. “It’ll help improve the defended area.”


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