Final APG-73 Radar for F-18 Super Hornet Delivered

Raytheon, EL SEGUNDO: With its final mechanically scanned APG-73 radar system for the F/A-18E/F headed to the U.S. Navy, Raytheon Company has received a contract worth up to $22.8 million to provide spares and support for the successful program. 
 
The company expects its post-production F/A-18 radar business to continue to grow, with recent and anticipated wins predicted to total more than $40 million in contracts for 2006. 
 
The sustainment team within the F/A-18 radar business unit provides post-production life-cycle support to current operators of the AN/APG-65, AN/APG-73, and AN/APG-79 AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars. Activity includes repair of the radar units and modules and the manufacture of spares, as well as support engineering, a growing business at the company. 
 
Erv Grau, vice president for the Air Combat Avionics Group of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, said: “Our sustainment business is focused on providing total life-cycle support for our customers. Although we have delivered the final APG-73, our relationship with our domestic and international customers now enters a new phase. Raytheon will continue to work in close partnership with them as the program life cycle continues to ensure our world class products and systems continue to deliver performance and value throughout their operational life.” 
 
With radar and other high-technology systems becoming more complex and military support budgets shrinking, governments are looking to contractors for cost-effective solutions. 
 
“We have experts at Raytheon dedicated to supporting the needs of our customers,” said Grau. 
 
The mechanically scanned APG-73 radar has been a Navy workhorse since it was first produced in 1993. Nine hundred thirty-two radars have been delivered to the Navy and various international customers including Australia, Canada, Finland, Malaysia and Switzerland. The APG-73 fire control radar offers many capabilities, including an all-weather, coherent, multimode, multi-waveform search-and-track sensor that provides the flexibility needed for air-to-air and air-to-surface missions. An upgrade of the earlier APG-65, it provides higher processor throughput, greater memory capacity, improved reliability, and easier maintenance without associated increases in size or weight.  
 
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) is the leading provider of sensor systems giving military forces the most accurate and timely information available for the network-centric battlefield. With 2005 revenues of $4.2 billion and 13,000 employees, SAS is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif. Additional facilities are in Goleta, Calif.; Forest, Miss.; Dallas, McKinney and Plano, Texas; and several international locations. 
 
Raytheon Company, with 2005 sales of $21.9 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.