2002 Laureate Awards
ELECTRONICS
Aviation Week & Space Technology
04/21/2003, page 38
Three years ago, the U.S. Navy/ Boeing/Raytheon APG-79 Active
Electronically Scanned Array team began developing an advanced
radar that would allow the F/A-18E/F to counter the evolving threat
beyond 2020. Led by three program managers, Capt. (select) Dave
Dunaway, Don Thole of Boeing and Tom Kennedy of Raytheon, the team
has met every milestone since contract award in 2000, including
100% on-time delivery.
The APG-79 is the first completely new airborne fire control radar
built by Raytheon in more than 25 years. It has an advanced active
array, the next-generation receiver exciter and a brand-new fiber
channel-based processor.
Top Pentagon officials say Active Electronically Scanned Array
(AESA) radars eventually will be at the heart of the U.S.'
network-centric defenses. These multi-element systems will
contribute to many advanced capabilities. For example, AESA will
allow stealth aircraft to use radar while still avoiding detection.
In various forms, they eventually will be carried by the F/A-22
Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
(UCAV), B-2 and the Air Force's new E-10 multi-sensor command and
control aircraft.
THE APG-79 PROMISES to be more lethal, survivable and reliable than
any airborne fire control radar today. The Navy anticipates never
having to open the nose of an aircraft to repair the radar. Its
officials say they are putting a 12,000-hr. radar in a 6,000-hr.
aircraft.
The APG-79 also provides "limitless choices" operationally,
according to Dunaway, making the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet a far more
capable precision-strike aircraft than its predecessors. The AESA
radar makes the Super Hornet, now on operational duty in the Middle
East, "more survivable, supportable and affordable," explained
Thole.
During a Nov. 20 exercise, the team demonstrated the first fully
integrated engineering manufacturing development model, three
months ahead of schedule. The team completed Operational Test and
Evaluation Phase IIA earlier this year and is on track for first
flight test by June. The "leap-ahead" technology incorporated in
the APG-79 is the basis for other major programs including MP-RTIP;
the new, long-range ground surveillance radar for the E-10; and
next-generation radars for the F-15 Eagle, B-2 and UCAV.
Dunaway is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who became an F/A-18 pilot
with VFA-151 and later a test pilot and test director. He received
an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate
School. Dunaway is currently the Radar IPT lead and program manager
for AESA.
Thole has worked at Boeing on F-4, F-15 and F/A-18 programs since
the mid-1980s. Under his leadership, a Boeing/Raytheon team fielded
USAF's F-15C AESA. Building on the F-15C radar upgrade experience,
Thole is heading up the APG-79 development effort for Boeing.
Kennedy earned his B.S.E.E. at Rutgers University, M.S.E.E. at the
Air Force Institute of Technology and Ph.D. at UCLA. Prior to
joining Hughes Aircraft Co., he was a USAF captain. Kennedy is the
Raytheon program manager for APG-79.
These program leaders are supported by hundreds of professionals
who have made the APG-79 a success.
