Raytheon was awarded a contract by National Air Support subsidiary Surveillance Australia (SA) to provide the SeaVue maritime radar as the system of choice under SA’s new Coastwatch prime contract award. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Raytheon will provide 10 new, latest-generation SeaVue radar systems and spares to be fitted to a fleet of 10 Dash 8 aircraft for the new Coastwatch contract. These new radars will replace eight SeaVue systems that have been in operation on the current contract for the past 11 years. The radar work will be managed and manufactured at the company’s McKinney, Texas, location.
The SeaVue selection followed an extensive evaluation process by the customer, concentrating on small targets at long ranges with high probability of detection combined with the lifecycle support of the radar and the high reliability provided over a long term contract at very high rates of operation.
SeaVue radar capabilities for Coastwatch will include ISAR (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar), SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and MTI (Moving Target Indication) modes. The SeaVue family of radars delivers some of the most advanced and accurate small target in high seas state detection capability available.
Raytheon will also provide mission support under the contract award, including continued training and product lifecycle support. The company has a long history with Australia’s Coastwatch, delivering and supporting SeaVue radars and spares for the maritime and littoral surveillance program since 1995. These systems have been operated by the customer at very high rates of effort over a long period of time, exceeding all reliability predictions.
“Raytheon is pleased to have the opportunity to team with Surveillance Australia’s industry partners and to continue to build upon its strong record of assuring mission success for the Coastwatch program,” remarked Rick Kraft, director, Maritime Surveillance Radars. “The SeaVue radar delivers the very best detection and identification capabilities critical to maritime and littoral situational awareness.”
There are more than 100 SeaVue radars operational worldwide; countries operating SeaVue include the United States (U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs & Border Protection), Japan, Mexico, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom and Thailand.
