Raytheon [RTN] has received a $92 million contract to develop a new air surveillance radar for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.

Under the contract, announced Aug. 19, Raytheon will complete engineering and manufacturing development of the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) by February 2020. Production options for up to 16 units could boost the contract’s total value to $723 million.

A composite photo illustration representing the Ford-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Illustration: Huntington Ingalls.
A composite photo illustration representing the Ford-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Illustration: Huntington Ingalls.

Raytheon will develop two variants of EASR: a rotating phased array for amphibious assault ships, starting with LHA-8, and a three-face, fixed phased array for carriers, starting with CVN-79, the USS John F. Kennedy. Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] is building both CVN-79 and LHA-8.

“EASR will be the primary air surveillance radar supporting ship self-defense, situational awareness and air traffic control (ATC) for Ford-class carriers (CVN 79+),” said Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). “For other ship classes, EASR will be the primary radar for self-defense and situational awareness and the backup radar for ATC.”

While CVN-78, the first Ford-class carrier, is getting a Raytheon dual-band radar adapted from the Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000) destroyer program, the Navy has said that later carriers would have a less expensive, single-band radar. The S-band EASR will be a derivative of the SPY-6 air-and-missile-defense radar that Raytheon is developing for the Flight III variant of the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) guided-missile destroyer.

Raytheon was the sole bidder for the EASR contract, according to NAVSEA. The program’s first milestone will be a system requirements review in about four months, company officials said.