Raytheon pursues AESA upgrade for global legacy Hornet fleet
By: Gareth Jennings Published: 09 Jul 2012
Raytheon is in discussions with a number of operators of the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft regarding an active electronically scanned array (AESA) upgrade to their legacy fleet, a company official told IHS Jane's on 9 July.
"We have been talking primarily with the FMS [Foreign Military Sales] users of the legacy Hornets … as there are a number of operators who are actively extending their Hornet service lives out to 2040," said James Hvizd, Vice President of International Business Development and Strategy, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, speaking at the Farnborough Airshow 2012.
Hvizd explained that whereas previously talks on AESA upgrades had centered on the improvement in performance they bring, the emphasis of these discussions has shifted to keeping legacy aircraft operationally airworthy.
"It has always been a tactical relevance question, but it is now becoming a sustainment and availability question - where in 2025 are you going to get parts for a [legacy] radar that was built in the mid-1990s?", he said.
While Hvizd declined to name any potential customers, FMS operators of the legacy Hornet comprise Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain, and Switzerland.
As the largest operator of the classic Hornet, the US Navy would appear to offer the largest potential upgrade market for the company's AESA retrofit offering: the Raytheon Advanced Capability Radar (RACR). However, Hvizd said that this was not the case for the legacy Hornets but could well be so for the early-model Super Hornets in service.
"The navy has the option to simply buy more [Boeing F/A18E/F] Super Hornets with the AN/APG-79 [AESA] to replace their legacy fleets. While they do have about 100 Block I Super Hornets that are effectively classic Hornets with bigger wings and more fuel, [these early-model Super Hornets] don't have the power or the cooling that the Block II does. We have been in discussions and we are looking at the feasibility and service lives of those platforms to see if [an AESA upgrade] is something that makes sense," Hvizd said.
The RACR has been adapted from the AN/APG-79 as fitted to the Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, and is scaled to be compatible with the classic Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.
While much of the focus in recent years has been on the potential F-16 AESA upgrade market, Hvizd's comments mark a substantial widening of the company's efforts to secure a market for its RACR system.
However, Hvizd was keen to stress that while discussions with legacy Hornet operators are ongoing he expects no announcement to be made before the end of 2012.
http://www.ihs.com/events/exhibitions/farnborough-2012/news/july-09/Raytheon-pursues-AESA.aspx
