ITT Exelis has been awarded a contract modification worth $20.2 million covering AN/SPS-48G(V)9 radar upgrade kits.
The S-band AN/SPS-48G is an upgraded version of the AN/SPS-48E three-dimensional naval surveillance radar, itself a member of the AN/SPS-48 family of systems which has been in US Navy service in one guise or another since the 1960s.
The AN/SPS-48E is currently being modernised under the Radar Obsolescence Availability Programme (ROAR) which is seeing 29 AN/SPS-48E radars being enhanced under an original contract worth €130.6 million ($169.3 million). This will install open architecture electronics in back end of the radar.
AN/SPS-48 radar family members reportedly have a range of circa 460 kilometres (250 nautical miles), a ceiling of 100,000 feet (30,000 metres), and scan 360° in azimuth and 65° in elevation. The radar is used on board the US Navy’s ‘Nimitz’ class aircraft carriers, plus its ‘Wasp’, ‘Tarawa’ and ‘San Antonio’ class amphibious assault ships.