WASHINGTON – Shipboard radar experts at L3Harris Technologies Inc. will upgrade legacy air-search radar systems for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships under terms of a $7.2 million order announced Monday.
Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking the L3Harris Technologies Integrated Mission Systems segment in Van Nuys, Calif. (former ITT Gilfillan) to produce AN/SPS-48G(V)1 radar data processor and radar display and control function software, firmware updates for the I/Q processor and synchronizer, and other hardware changes.
The AN/SPS-48 is an electronically scanned array air-search 3D radar system first deployed in the 1960s as the primary air-search sensor for anti-aircraft warships. These systems were reused in the 1980s on aircraft carriers and amphibious ships to direct targets for air defense systems like the Sea Sparrow and RIM-116 surface-to-air missiles.
In recent years versions of the AN/SPS-48 have been upgraded as part of the AN/SPS-48 Radar Obsolescence, Availability Recovery (ROAR) program. The AN/SPS-48G progressively has been replacing the AN/SPS-48E, starting in 2011 and continuing through 2028.
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ROAR is to lessen total cost of ownership by reducing the impact of obsolescence in major subassemblies, and increase fleet readiness by improving operational availability.
L3Harris experts will build the AN/SPS-48G(V)1 radar data processor software version 2.0.0 and radar display and control function software version 2.0.0, as well as firmware updates for the I/Q processor and synchronizer and other hardware changes.
This order will implement a subset of the advanced training domain requirements, correct radar performance issues, and perform engineering and development on any hardware changes that might be necessary, Navy officials say.
On this order L3Harris will do the work in Van Nuys, Calif., and should be finished by November 2022. For more information contact L3Harris Technologies Integrated Mission Systems online at www.l3harris.com, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.
