By Carlo Munoz

Defense firm Raytheon [RTN] are set to begin low-rate initial production of its new maritime radar system for the Navy’s next-generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft by September.

Production and deliveries of the LRIP versions of the company’s APY-10 radar system will coincide with the delivery schedule set by the Navy for the Boeing [BA]-built P-8 Poseidon ISR aircraft, Brad Hopper, senior manager for strategy and business development in Raytheon’s ISR division, said in an April 6 briefing.

“When the Navy contracts Boeing for the [LRIP] aircraft…Boeing will contract us,” to begin APY-10 deliveries.

Currently the Navy has Boeing on contract to produce six planes for LRIP-1 and seven planes for LRIP-2, Hopper said. Quantities and schedules for the future LRIP buys are still in the works, he added.

The P-8 is the replacement for the Navy’s legacy P-3 Orion ISR aircraft. Raytheon is a subcontractor to the Boeing-led P-8 effort.

The APY-10 “is a brand new design, specifically to meet the maritime and over land surveillance requirements for the P-8 platform,” with specific focus on anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, Hopper said.

Deliveries of the radar system will begin in September and run through July of next year, according to Hopper. The Navy granted the P-8 program milestone C clearance last August, clearing the way for the program to begin LRIP production.

Live flight tests of the APY-10 are already underway at Naval Air Station-Paxtuxet River, Md., according to Hopper.

He could not comment on the specifics of the ongoing tests, noting that Raytheon has yet to receive an official report on the flight test results. That said, Hopper noted that preliminary feedback from those tests have shown no major anomalies with the APY-10 test system.