AESA technology
The radar uses advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array technology, which provides superior detection, tracking and targeting capabilities.
Big radar power for small aircraft
Raytheon’s new PhantomStrike® radar brings powerful sensing to more of the fleet
Ten minutes into the test flight, it was time to see what the new radar could do.
A member of the mission crew pressed the button, and pilot Rob Swaringen glanced at the display. While he’s not allowed to describe in detail what he saw on the screen, he made one thing clear: This little, lightweight radar was doing some seriously heavy lifting.
The engineers and program representatives on board couldn’t help but sneak into the cockpit for a peek.
“It’s the first time this thing is flying, and it worked like a champ,” said Swaringen, a former F-16 pilot who went by the call sign Houdini.
The test, conducted aboard a modified commercial jet Raytheon uses as a flying test bed, marked an important milestone for the business’ new PhantomStrike® radar. The radar puts the power of active electronically scanned array in a package compact and light enough for just about any aircraft – even small UAVs – and, in doing so, opens up a world of capabilities to a rapidly changing fleet.
An onboard air picture
The PhantomStrike radar is cooled entirely with air pulled straight from the platform. This means fewer lines to run and systems to connect, so installation took only a matter of hours, Swaringen said.
Swaringen, Raytheon’s chief test bed pilot, knows firsthand the importance of superior situational awareness in every mission scenario – whether it’s in combat with hostile aircraft buzzing from every angle or in a high-stakes test flight.
He said technology like PhantomStrike would have come in handy when he was logging hours on the F-16.
“It [shows] 10 times what I could see with previous capabilities,” he said. “Just having that excellent air picture in your own cockpit – regardless of what’s coming across the radio, what’s on the link display – to have that in your own ship is a real game changer.”
The radar is designed for a range of platforms, including uncrewed and light-attack aircraft, fighter jets and helicopters.
Proving the point
The radar-scanned images captured during that first flight test showed the California terrain clearly and in detail: stretches of dry land next to dense forest, mountains, lakes, islands off the coast. To Larry Martin, what mattered most was that PhantomStrike had worked as he had expected.
Martin is a senior technology fellow at Raytheon, an RTX business, and the technical lead for the PhantomStrike radar. Years ago, he and his team had set out to develop a system like nothing else on the market. Now it was airborne.
“It was the cherry on top to see it work,” Martin said.
Program teams, working on an accelerated schedule, had done the legwork to install the radar on Raytheon’s Multi-Program Testbed aircraft, a Boeing 727 modified to carry, integrate and test sensors and electro-optical/infrared systems.
“Once we were integrated on the plane, it was a big relief,” he said. “A lot of questions were answered on our initial flights.”
The result, he said, is a radar that is truly the first of its kind.
How small is it?
The PhantomStrike radar can scale down to about the size of a gaming computer, and it weighs less than 130 pounds. That makes it suitable for integration into platforms such as light-attack aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft and uncrewed aerial vehicles.
Dave Kupfer, a senior systems engineer and former PhantomStrike program manager, said that scalability benefit comes from the front end of the radar’s sub-panel.
“It’s basically a large, printed wiring board, so we can cut it to any kind of shape to meet the demands of the tiny aircraft or the SWaP-C-constrained aircraft,” he said.
For military aviation, a strong but small radar has big implications. When a group of several expendable UAVs can see farther, over greater distances, they allow crewed platforms to stay farther from the fray.
The AESA advantage
The radar follows a pattern that’s common in consumer technology: making things smaller but more capable – think about the progression from bulky, basic cellular phones to small but versatile smartwatches.
In this case, the PhantomStrike radar gives many more platforms the advantages of AESA technology. Those advantages include digital beam forming and steering, the ability to function in multiple modes and simultaneously track and engage both airborne and ground-based targets.
To the aircrews in the adrenaline-fueled heat of the fight, Swaringen said the AESA radar can help them see everything and decide what to focus on first.
“Not only can I see where [the targets] are and what they’re doing, but now I can use that information to manage what missiles I have and then to identify what is friendly, what is foe,” he said.
An early adopter of the PhantomStrike radar is Korea Aerospace Industries, which has contracted Raytheon to outfit more than 50 FA-50 Light Combat Aircraft with the system. Other companies have shown serious interest, said Richard Sandifer, director for strategic pursuits for Advanced Products & Solutions at Raytheon.
“We want to get these things moving out the door,” he said. “We are aggressively working with the U.S. government to expand this around the world.”
“There are people still flying around with 1980s radar technology. We are setting a standard for new AESA radars.”
Dave Kupfer | Senior systems engineer | Raytheon
What makes it powerful
The PhantomStrike radar owes its performance to two key factors: a gallium nitride-powered array, and a component known as a CHIRP, which stands for compact high-reliability integrated receiver/processor. The radar’s hardware and software work together to optimize their performance. Pilots can dial in exactly the detection range they need at a given moment.
“PhantomStrike’s performance is software-defined,” Martin said. “The radar is in the sweet spot of power, performance and mission needs.”
Four key advantages of the PhantomStrike radar
Compact design
It is small, air-cooled and lightweight, making it suitable for a wide range of platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and fighter jets.
Lower cost
The use of commercial off-the-shelf parts has driven down production costs while maintaining performance and reliability.
Multi-functionality
The radar can perform multiple functions simultaneously, such as air-to-air and air-to-ground surveillance, target acquisition and electronic warfare support.
What else can it do?
Kupfer said once customers understand PhantomStrike’s scalability potential, they want to talk customization.
“Once they’ve seen it, they like it and want more out of it,” he said. “Now we’re getting requests to do more advanced radar modes, to process higher power or lower power, higher or lower air cooling.”
And, because it’s designed to be platform-agnostic, the basic building blocks are there to accommodate just about any configuration.
Kupfer said PhantomStrike represents not only an evolution in technology, but a revolution in availability and access for aircrews – outcomes his team had set out to accomplish from the start.
“There are people still flying around with 1980s radar technology,” he said. “We are setting a standard for new AESA radars.”
