The US Navy's AN/SPY-6 radar system ranks among the most powerful maritime sensors ever employed on naval platforms.

Designed as a scalable, modular system, the SPY-6 delivers unmatched situational awareness and integrated air and missile defense across missions and naval platforms.

The AN/SPY-6 is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) 3D radar system designed to protect warships from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hostile manned and unmanned aircraft and surface ship attacks.

The system is designed for use aboard Flight IIA and Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Future variants in development are slated for use with the next flights of San Antonio- and America-class amphibious ships, as well as the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier and the Constellation-class frigates.

The SPY-6 system is built around two radars, the S-band and X-band arrays, balancing both long-range surveillance and tracking targets in high resolution. A radar suite controller (RSC) coordinates the two sensors.

This arrangement enhances the ship’s defensive capabilities even in noisy environments.

S-band radar provides long-range detection, engagement and wide-area volume search and target tracking, while X-band offers horizon search, precision tracking, missile communications and terminal illumination of guidance for missiles.

These two radar bands provide enhanced range, ensuring broad coverage and defense from threats emanating beyond the horizon.

Scalable system

The AN/SPY-6 radar system also integrates digital beamforming technology, which empowers jam-resistant and continuous tracking of aerial and surface threats. Its AESA antenna is potentially capable of conducting electronic warfare.

The system is designed to be easily reparable and maintainable, with each sensor built on Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA).

Each RMA can operate as a functional radar unit, allowing the radar system to be scaled across ship classes and operational needs –– also making the SPY-6 the US Navy’s first scalable radars.

The RMAs each measure 61 x 61 x 61 cm and are composed of 144 gallium nitride (GaN) transmit/receive modules that are able to generate up to 35 times more radar power over older, gallium arsenide-based systems.

Through its modular design, the radar can form a network of bistatic radars, meaning that the transmitter and receiver do not have to be co-located.

This distributed sensing capability means that forward-deployed sensors can work in receive-only mode, while separate transmitters illuminate targets from more secure positions.