Raytheon's radar for the Boeing Joint Strike Fighter will be an improved version of the active electronically scanned array it's developing for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the company disclosed today. The AESA is expected to be available on the F/A-18E/F from 2005.

Raytheon says that it has, in effect, started engineering and manufacturing development for the Boeing JSF avionics. The company is responsible for four primary systems: the radar and electronic warfare system, the integrated core processor, the distributed infrared system and the infrared targeting system.

All will be developed under a new family approach, according to Raytheon JSF leader Peter Pao, in which development and improvement are continuous, and common technology and open architectures make it possible to apply the technologies to different platforms. The JSF radar, for example, could be used on the Super Hornet, and the Sanders-developed electronic warfare receiver system will also be applied to the F/A-18 when it is available. The JSF targeting FLIR, too, is based on the ATFLIR, which Raytheon is developing for the Super Hornet.

Since the program started, says Pao, Raytheon has reduced the weight of the radar antenna by 75% and reduced its cost by 80%.

"I don't understand why the General Accounting Office says we're not ready," Pao comments. "Maybe the other guys are not ready, but we are."

By Bill Sweetman