Over the past few years, American, Western European, as well as Russian military news and military-technical resources abound with numerous reports on the development of the project of a promising ship-based modular multifunctional AMDR radar complex, which should subsequently partially replace the multifunctional decimeter 4-sided radars in the US Navy. radars with a passive phased antenna array of the AN / SPY-1D (V) type, used as part of the Aegis combat information and control systems on the Arley Burke-class missile destroyers. At the moment, the AMDR radar, also called AN / SPY-6 and developed by the American company "Raytheon", is undergoing field tests to detect and track various types of air targets in the passage around the west coast of the Hawaiian Islands.
The prototype, which has successfully passed the test on direction finding and "linking the track" (tracking on the passage) of a ballistic target over the Pacific Ocean on September 7, 2017, is still represented by a simplified antenna post with only one S-band radar designed only for detecting air objects, their tracking and target designation for anti-aircraft missiles with active radar homing heads (long-range RIM-174 ERAM / SM-6, and medium-range missiles RIM-162B, which is under development), while the X-band radar on the prototype has not yet been seen … But let's still find out how the AMDR qualitatively differs from the outdated AN / SPY-1A / D (V), the installed Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers and the Arleigh Burke-class EM URO.
First of all, we are talking about a significant increase in the energy potential of AMDR. Due to the fact that the transmit-receive modules of this radar with an active phased antenna array are represented by a gallium-nitride base capable of operating at temperatures of 350-450 ° C (2.5-3 times higher than the PPM based on GaAs: 175 ° C), the radiation power of such modules can be increased 30 times, which will ultimately increase the radar range by 1, 6-1, 7 times. In particular, the range of the S-band AMDR station in comparison with the AN / SPY-1D (V) increases from 320 km to 470-500 km, due to which the time required for retaliatory measures from the ship's air defense system increases by 70%. And this, in turn, significantly expands the capabilities of the Aegis system operators to select priority attack targets against the background of trap drones and response noise radio-electronic interference generated by enemy electronic warfare aircraft. Moreover, gallium nitride PPMs have a noticeably greater operational reliability and service life.
Secondly, the AMDR complex as part of the Aegis combat information and control system eliminates the need to use outdated single-channel AN / APG-62 target illumination radars based on parabolic antenna arrays, which limited the number of RIM-156A (SM-2 Block IV) and RIM-162A targets only 1, 2, 3 and 4 units, depending on the number of SPG-62. Moreover, the parabolic antenna of these "radar searchlights" has an extremely low noise immunity from various types of electronic interference, especially sighting and response noise. Instead of the SPG-62, the AMDR multifunctional radar complex uses specialized multichannel AFAR illumination radars operating in the high-precision X-band of waves at frequencies from 8 to 12 GHz.
Antenna sheets of these radars are also built on the basis of active phased array, the emitting base of the APM which is formed on gallium nitride (GaN) elements. The conclusion from this is this: each X-band antenna target illumination surface of the AN / SPY-6 AMDR radar (as opposed to the AN / SPG-62 “searchlight”) is capable of simultaneously “capturing” 4-10 enemy air objects for precise auto-tracking. At the same time, minimizing the receiving path of certain groups of receiving-transmitting modules, this radar can "drop" the radiation pattern in the direction of the EW sources, thereby providing a high level of noise immunity at the time of target selection in a difficult jamming environment.
It is well known that it was planned to equip the advanced American destroyers with the Arleigh Burke Flight III with the AMDR multifunctional radars, but it seems that their reduced conceptual counterpart with lower energy qualities could receive promising Spanish Aegis frigates much earlier. (patrol ships) of the F-110 class, which should complement the 5 existing F-100 class frigates "Alvaro de Bazan" in the Spanish Navy. Despite the fact that the latter are also equipped with Aegis BIUS, the presence of only 2 AN / SPG-62 illumination radars (on the front and rear superstructures) limited the target channel of the Mk 99 fire control system to only two simultaneously fired targets, since for universal The VPU Mk 41 of the F100 frigates was adapted only to the RIM-162A ESSM and SM-2 Block IIIA anti-aircraft missiles, equipped with semi-active radar seeker that need continuous illumination.
The new frigates will receive not the standard export AN / SPY-1D radar, but a promising 8-module S / X-band radar, represented by the lower 4-sided antenna post of the decimeter S-band for detecting and tracking long-range targets at a distance of 250 km or more. as well as an upper centimeter X-band antenna post for illuminating low-flying enemy anti-ship missiles that appear from outside the radio horizon. The radio horizon for the X-band post, located at an altitude of about 30 meters above sea level, exceeds 35 km when working on an enemy missile flying at an altitude of 20 meters, which is noticeably better than the SPG-62 illumination radars installed on all existing Aegis "-Ships. Consequently, the F110 frigates will be technologically "sharpened" for the tasks of a layered medium-altitude missile defense system at sea theaters, characterized by the massive use of enemy anti-ship or anti-radar weapons.
The new radar system is a joint brainchild of the American company Lockheed Martin and the Spanish concern Indra. This radar will also receive a gallium nitride technology for creating an APM for both decimeter and centimeter antenna panels. The Spanish Defense Ministry also included in the contract with the Agency for Foreign Military Cooperation of the US Department of State a clause on the purchase of 20 long-range anti-aircraft guided missiles (up to 170 km) SM-2 Block IIIB, equipped with both a semi-active radar seeker and an infrared sensor. These missiles will make it possible to show all the capabilities of the Aegis system channeling, improve noise immunity, and also destroy ballistic targets in the atmospheric sector.
