LOS ANGELES (the USA), May 21, 2018, Author: Galina Zdravkova, Photo: Raytheon (AN/APG-79 radar)
On 9th May the Naval Air Warfare Centre announced that it intends to grant an F/A-18 and EA-18G Upgrade Contract to Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems without a bidding competition as the company is the sole designer, developer and manufacturer of the systems, reported FlightGlobal.
The scope of the contract will include upgrading of the ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) targeting pod and AN/APG-65, AN/APG-73, and AN/APG-79 radars of the US Navy’s Boeing F/A-18 and EA-18G aircrafts.
With the help of the ATFLIR system it can be located and designated objects day and night through picking up their heat signature. Its range is more than 74km and may be used at altitudes of more than 15,240m.
The AN/APG-65 and AN/APG-73 are a family of all-weather multimode airborne radar systems designed by Raytheon especially for the F/A-18 Hornet. The APG-79 is an upgraded active electronically scanned array (AESA) version for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircrafts and provides a high level of aircrew situational awareness. Raytheon markets the APG-79 radar system as one of its most advanced.
The upgrading of the infrared and radar systems of the F/A-18 and EA-18G aircrafts is enforced by the coming purchasing of additional F/A-18 aircrafts by the USN. In connection with that purchasing Boeing has received a firm-fixed-price contract at the amount of $41.3 million for long-lead materials for the purposes of supporting the manufacturing of 24 F/A-18 aircrafts for the USN. That was revealed by the Defence Department on 16th May. March 2022 is the agreed deadline of that contract.