EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar System has been entered into South Korea's F-16 radar upgrade competition.
RACR uses active electronically scanned array technology. Raytheon said it pioneered for technology for the U.S. Air Force's F-15C and that it's particularly suited for the F-16.
Radars using AESA gain target acquisition at much greater distances and the simultaneous tracking of more targets than mechanically scanned array.
"Raytheon AESA radars are the only combat proven AESA radars currently in production," said Mark Kula, vice president of Tactical Airborne Systems for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
"They have logged more operational flight hours and have the largest installed customer base of any AESA system in the world."
AESA radar systems also have lower maintenance costs when compared with traditional mechanically scanned array systems, Raytheon said.
"Based on 250,000 operational flights hours, we know that Raytheon AESA radars require roughly 1-10th the maintenance expenditures that traditional mechanical arrays require," said Jim Hvizd, vice president of International Strategy and Business Development for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
