Raytheon Introduced Lightweight AESA Radar | Ritek To Perform Vehicle Integration Of GM200 MM/C | General Dynamics Tapped For Abrams Systems Support

Americas

Oshkosh Defense won a $10 million contract modification for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Family of Vehicles. The JLTV Family of Vehicles (FoV) is the Marine Corps and Army partial replacement for the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) fleet. Work will take place in Wisconsin. Estimated completion date is November 30, 2022.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space has introduced a lightweight, affordable AESA radar in its lightest form factor ever. In addition to being a third of the weight of most modern AESA radars, the new compact radar also costs about half as much as typical fire control radars. Gallium Nitride technology is combined with an innovative packaging of its digital receiver/exciter and processor called CHIRP, and a unique air-cooled design.

Middle East & Africa

IMCO Group acquired Innocon Ltd., a company that manufactures Micro, Mini and Tactical unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as well as mission systems for manned light airplanes. IMCO Group’s subsidiary acquired Innocon’s assets and activities for $938,000, plus an additional amount equal to 25% of the subsidiary’s net profit during 72 months from January 1, 2022, and up to a total and cumulative ceiling of $547,000.

Turkey reportedly handed over first units of Bayraktar TB2 combat drones to Morocco last week. The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (Far-Maroc) signed an agreement with Turkish drone maker Baykar Savunma for 13 Bayraktar TB2s in April. The contract was worth $70 million.

Europe

Norwegian mechanical engineering company Ritek has agreed to perform vehicle integration of Ground Master 200 multi-mission compact radars (GM200 MM/C) under an agreement signed with Thales. The Norwegian Defense Material Agency (NDMA) signed an agreement with the Netherlands Defense Material Organisation (DMO) for the five counter-battery radars in May 2021. Ritek will perform the vehicle integration of these radars, Thales said in a statement today.

Asia-Pacific

General Dynamics Land Systems won a $13.8 million contract modification for Abrams systems and technical support. The first M1 Abrams battle tanks were delivered to the US Army in 1980. The M1 is equipped with a Honeywell AGT 1500 gas turbine engine. The Allison X-1100-3B transmission provides four forward and two reverse gears. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 other procurement, Army funds; fiscal 2021 Foreign Military Sales (Australia) funds; and fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $13,743,076 were obligated at the time of the award. Work will take place in Michigan. Estimated completion date is September 30, 2022.

Today’s Video

Watch: The Ground Master 200 (GM200) – Thales

Raytheon’s APG-79 AESA Radars

The AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar began life as a replacement. Initial F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet production batches installed Raytheon’s all-weather, multimode AN/APG-73, but the APG-79 has intrinsic technical features that offered revolutionary increases in capability, reliability, image resolution, and range.

Unlike the APG-73 that equipped the first Super Hornets, the APG-79’s AESA array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules that are fixed in place, eliminating a common cause of breakdowns. To move their beams, they rely on electronic changes in each module’s transmissions, creating useful interference patterns in order to aim, focus and shape their output. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, and power supplies. With its open systems architecture and compact COTS parts, it changes what both aircrews and maintenance staff can do with a fighter radar – and does so in a smaller, lighter package.