Raytheon’s offering at Aero India

US defense systems manufacturer Raytheon plans to exhibit a wide range of products and programs in the areas of Intelligence, Surveillance And Reconnaissance (ISR), Command, Control And Communications (C3), integrated air & missile defense, missile systems, radar and homeland security (including coastal/maritime security), at Aero India 2011 in Bangalore next week.

For the F/A-18IN being pitched by Boeing for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Raytheon is offering ‘an integrated sensor suite that is comprised of the combat-proven APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, ALR-67(V)3 Advanced Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), ALE-50 towed decoy, and the ATFLIR targeting pod’. Raytheon says these systems comprise the baseline equipment on Block II Super Hornets for the US Navy, F/A-18E/F and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18F aircraft.

Raytheon says it has delivered more than 250 APG-79 AESA radars, adding that ‘ongoing radar upgrades and technology advancements will continue in the future due to a robust roadmap in place for radar development and further expansion of capabilities’.

Raytheon is also offering an advanced electronic warfare suite and towed decoy system, for the F-16IN, Lockheed Martin’s entry in the MMRCA contest.

The company is exhibiting a suite of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons specifically for the MMRCA contest, including, Advance Medium Air-to-Air Missile, AIM-9X Sidewinder, High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile, Joint Standoff Weapon, Enhanced Paveway™ II and Maverick at the show.

Raytheon officials point out that its range of weapons systems are compatible with five of the six aircraft competing in the MMRCA.

“Raytheon’s MMRCA weapons have baseline integration on multiple platforms, including all the western aircraft being offered for MMRCA,” says Harry Schulte, Vice President of Raytheon Missile Systems’ Air Warfare Systems product line. “This translates into significant cost avoidance and also means the IAF won’t need to wait on weapons integration before their aircraft are operational,” he adds.

His company also plans to exhibit maritime surveillance capabilities like the Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems for use on SH-60R and SH-60S helicopters, the APY-10 and SeaVue surveillance radars.

Raytheon says the SeaVue XMC radar family has expanded new capabilities that provide a ‘significant increase in the ability to perform wide area surveillance and sort out and identify threats quickly and efficiently’. The company says the SeaVue XMC radar is known for its proven ability to detect small maritime vessels in high sea states, and has been ‘acknowledged for detecting stealthy Self Propelled Semi-Submersible crafts’.

Raytheon says it is now considering establishing manufacturing in India and partnering with India to be a global supplier. “We’ve established strong ties with organizations such as Larsen & Toubro, Data Patterns, Astra Microwave, and Precision Electronics, among others. In the future, we will seek to expand our relationships in both the defense and civil security markets,” says the company.