The Navy is planning to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in May for a radar system for the new class of aircraft carriers, an admiral said Tuesday.
Rear Adm. Thomas Moore, the program executive officer for aircraft carriers, told reporters the Navy is now planning to deploy the new radar on the second ship and subsequent eight in the class. The first ship, the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) scheduled to deliver in 2016, is receiving a dual-band radar adapted from the Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000) destroyer program.
The Navy wants to shift to a cheaper, single-band and less capable system that is more suitable for an aircraft carrier, Moore said, and plans to do so for the remaining nine ships in the class, starting with the future USS John F Kennedy (CVN-79). He said the Navy estimates the plan will save about $180 million per ship.
The envisioned system is being called for the time being the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, or EASR, until it gets a traditional SPY radar designation, Moore said.
Moore said the Navy does not want a new capability, and is instead looking for an existing one that can be modified for the ships. He said because there are numerous possibilities within industry the RFP should spark an effective competition.
“What we want this radar to do already exists,” he said at a defense programs conference hosted by Credit Suisse/McAleese. “I expect it to be a robust competition.”
The Navy believes moving to the radar is a low technical risk, and must readily able to fit on the aircraft carrier’s bridge structure, Moore said.
“I am not going to re-design the island,” he said.
Among the possibilities cited by Moore are the advanced Air Missile Defense Radar Raytheon [RTN] is developing for the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers, or the ground based G/ATOR system Northrop Grumman [NOC] is developing for the Marine Corps.
In the case of AMDR, Moore said it would have to be scaled down for use on an aircraft carrier and that new software would be needed for a more limited mission. AMDR is designed to direct, track and guide interceptors to hit take out air-theater or ballistic missile–much more capability than needed for an aircraft carrier.