Lockheed Martin’s latest generation solid-state radar technology, formerly known as the Solid State Radar (SSR), has been designated as AN/SPY-7(V)1 by the United States government.
The firm say that the designation of AN/SPY-7(V)1 is a direct reflection of the maturity and capability of Lockheed Martin’s solid-state radar technology.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense recently selected AN/SPY-7(V)1 for two planned Aegis Ashore installations in 2018. Additionally, variants of AN/SPY-7(V)1 will be used by the Royal Canadian Navy for the Canadian Surface Combatant programme based on the UK’s Type 26 Frigate and the Spanish Navy for the upcoming F-110.
“Lockheed Martin’s solid state solution meets the mission now and is flexible to adapt to the evolving threats of the future,” said Paul Lemmo, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin, in a release.
“This new designation solidifies our ability to provide the most technically advanced capabilities our warfighters require.”
Lockheed say that the AN/SPY-7(V)1 is a modular and scalable solid state radar, allowing for continuous surveillance and protection. It will be fully integrated with the Aegis Combat System.
SPY-7 and T26 will be quite a combination.
Yes but it looks quite large which suggests it will be mounted like tge SPY1 on the superstructure. I still think the T45 Mast with spinning radar is better as it gives that bit extra range to spot hypersonic sea skimmers. However it is good tge USN are moving away from passive electronically scanned like the SPY1 and moving to active electronicaly scanned systems.
With the article in SaveTheRoyalNavy saying that the radar on T31 is going to be the Thales NS100 or NS200, the NS200 at least being (according to DaveyB) a significant step up from Artisan, our use of Artisan on T26 begins to look a bit odd. Surely it will be a bit strange if T31 were to have a significantly more capable radar then T31 wouldn’t it? I was just thinking the same thought looking at the pictures of PoW coming into Portsmouth. Fantastic news & pics but again it will feel weird to me if even T31 has a… Read more »
The carriers also have the S1850M which is a very capable radar (same as the second radar on the T45); it’s a PESA but has been successfully upgraded to AESA for other applications. Anywho, with Artisan as the secondary radar in the case of the carrier, it probably represents better value for money?
As for the T26, I’d rather see them given the NS200 and the Artisan passed down to the T31s. In the end though, both pretty capable at developing the RAP and driving SeaCeptor.
Cheers Julian, no pressure then! The Thales NS200 uses the research and development the company did on building the AESA version of the Smart L/M (S1850M) radar, so it has pedigree. The antenna size is comparable with the Artisan, hence the comparable range (NS100). However, because it’s an AESA, more power can be generated from the individual transmit/receive modules compared to a PESA. This is because there are no waveguide, pre-amp or coupling losses, which is one of the reasons the NS200 has a longer range. Both the NS200 and Artisan rotate at 30rpm and use a single antenna face,… Read more »
Thanks for the insights; I was wondering whether there’d been any movement on “Sampson 2.0” as it were. I know it was considered better than AEGIS’ radar when it came into service, but there have been improvements in the American system since then- was wondering how they compared these days. As you wisely point out, it’s also about the processing at the back end and all of the other parts of the air defence system puzzle. How would you say AEGIS and PAAMS match up in their current forms (if you’re allowed to say?!)? I know it’s a bit like… Read more »
To the best of my knowledge, neither system has been fully tested against a proper swarm attack, simulations yes, but not actual real drone targets. I know HMS Defender did a trial off Scotland where she downed 3 no-notice targets in less than 10 minutes. From memory this was two sea-skimmers and a ballistic target. The issue here is cost. Clearly to test the system with 100% confidence you need a full complementary of drones to attack the ship using swarming tactics. However, that would mean releasing probably your full inventory of carried missiles. For example, in 2018, Singapore paid… Read more »
What will the Sampson upgrade do for T45? Will it increase range power? Are there any plans to upgrade the RN’s S1850M’s to active arrays?
Has the T45 been upgraded to track Ballistic missiles yet?
The T45s S1850M has been able to detect ballistic missiles from the start. This was one of the differences to the standard Thales SMART-L radar that it is based on. This was mostly software derived from BAe as the radar is a joint BAe-Thales product. The new SMART-L-MM has used a lot of information gleaned from the S1850M programme. The SMART-L MM has modes that are specifically designed to search for ballistic missiles, however it is now a full AESA radar compared to the S1850M. If the RN decide to get the Aster 30NT for taking out ballistic missiles it… Read more »
Thanks Davey. That letter makes pitiful reading. They are begging for £10m of funding over 5 years to keep the UK’s high-end radar capabilities intact. £10m over 5 years??? For such a critical core competency where the U.K. currently has such a good standing??? Against a defence budget of over £40bn per annum??? Surely it shouldn’t require more than a microsecond of thought to get out the chequebook? I really hope HMG comes through on this one.
Correction – £10m over 4 years. Still an inconsequential sum for such a critical area.