Industry Interview: Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems
Tim Carey
Vice President, ISR Systems
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems
Raytheon Co., with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 86 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; command, control, communications and intelligence systems; and a broad range of mission support services.
Within Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems (ISRS) designs, develops and supports a vast array of electro-optical/infrared sensors, active electronically scanned array/ scanning radars, and integrated solutions to provide customers with the most accurate and actionable information for strike, persistent surveillance and special mission applications. ISRS products are deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and other government, commercial and international customers.
Q: Raytheon builds sensors, but really, you are in the business of delivering actionable information. How important is information to your special operations customers?
A: We like to say ISR Systems establishes an unblinking eye over the battlespace that delivers actionable information to the warfighter. None of our customers, special operations included, can afford to blink in today’s challenging environments. Accurate, persistently provided information is an absolute must-have for our warfighters and their mission success.
We are also in the business of delivering persistent situational awareness. This is another key area of our focus that supports our military customers. From early warning threat detection, airborne and on the ground, such as IEDs, to effecting timely command and control and detailed target identification, Raytheon ISR solutions make it all possible.
Q: Can you tell me something about the Raytheon products and systems that provide actionable information for special operations forces?
A: As clandestine as our SOF customer is and needs to be, I would rather not discuss specific systems or provide much detail in that regard.
I can, however, talk about our capabilities. We provide superior equipment—the warfighter’s edge in battle that delivers realtime information for a variety of special mission requirements from ground support surveillance and targeting to low-level flight support and airborne situational awareness.
More specifically, it is through the persistent surveillance assets Raytheon provides that today’s special forces operator has the capability to find the enemy, track them and then assess the situation relative to the overall mission objective.
Q: Raytheon has a long heritage of EO/IR and RF sensor development. How do you leverage that heritage today for special operations?
A: At the root of being able to provide unsurpassed mission capabilities rests domain expertise. With 45 years of pioneering efforts in electro-optical, infrared and radio frequency systems, Raytheon is pushing the bounds of these technologies ever further and in new directions.
The quality of the imagery with some of these efforts is stunning. The capabilities we provide and can provide are all the more stunning, real difference makers. For example, with such improved imagery that is data-linked and netted to command and control centers, we can enable decision-makers and the boots on the ground to act more precisely and with greater expediency.
Q: What is today’s special operations customer asking for?
A: Like every Raytheon customer, they expect no-doubt performance as promised. That means every system must work the first time, every time. Mission success and lives are at stake. As for specific mission needs, there is greater demand for ISR information. That applies to special ops. They are asking for full-motion video and more of it.
And I mentioned low-level flight. The airborne missions of our special operations customers require safety, speed and the element of surprise. They need to get in swiftly, get the job done successfully and return home safely. Our terrain following/terrain avoidance systems deliver the situational awareness and capability to fly very low in some of the most adverse conditions.
Q: What about some of the new technologies Raytheon is developing?
A: There is a new system we are developing with the U.S. Army Night Vision Systems Directorate, our Advanced Distributed Aperture System, or ADAS. ADAS gives helicopter aircrews the ability to see through the aircraft for 360-degree spherical situational awareness. Raytheon’s ADAS is solving long standing helicopter pilotage issues, such as wire detection and flying in complete darkness where other NVGs fail. And we are doing this in true HD 1080i quality.
Q: What else is on the horizon?
A: We are working solutions, like hyperspectral technologies that provide the capability to see through foliage. We are developing technologies that leave enemy forces little place to hide whether under a tree canopy, underground or in a building. We already mentioned target ID. We are improving moving target identification capabilities.
And some of the capabilities aren’t about new technologies but about being smarter in force application. The U.S. Army Common Sensor Payload for ARH and Sky Warrior is a good example of building a sensor solution that provides common acquisition, production, training, operation and display, and life cycle support.
This direction in common, yet customizable systems actually has roots in the special operations community, and it holds promise for other customers and a wider array of solutions. ♦
Within Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems (ISRS) designs, develops and supports a vast array of electro-optical/infrared sensors, active electronically scanned array/ scanning radars, and integrated solutions to provide customers with the most accurate and actionable information for strike, persistent surveillance and special mission applications. ISRS products are deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and other government, commercial and international customers.
Q: Raytheon builds sensors, but really, you are in the business of delivering actionable information. How important is information to your special operations customers?
A: We like to say ISR Systems establishes an unblinking eye over the battlespace that delivers actionable information to the warfighter. None of our customers, special operations included, can afford to blink in today’s challenging environments. Accurate, persistently provided information is an absolute must-have for our warfighters and their mission success.
We are also in the business of delivering persistent situational awareness. This is another key area of our focus that supports our military customers. From early warning threat detection, airborne and on the ground, such as IEDs, to effecting timely command and control and detailed target identification, Raytheon ISR solutions make it all possible.
Q: Can you tell me something about the Raytheon products and systems that provide actionable information for special operations forces?
A: As clandestine as our SOF customer is and needs to be, I would rather not discuss specific systems or provide much detail in that regard.
I can, however, talk about our capabilities. We provide superior equipment—the warfighter’s edge in battle that delivers realtime information for a variety of special mission requirements from ground support surveillance and targeting to low-level flight support and airborne situational awareness.
More specifically, it is through the persistent surveillance assets Raytheon provides that today’s special forces operator has the capability to find the enemy, track them and then assess the situation relative to the overall mission objective.
Q: Raytheon has a long heritage of EO/IR and RF sensor development. How do you leverage that heritage today for special operations?
A: At the root of being able to provide unsurpassed mission capabilities rests domain expertise. With 45 years of pioneering efforts in electro-optical, infrared and radio frequency systems, Raytheon is pushing the bounds of these technologies ever further and in new directions.
The quality of the imagery with some of these efforts is stunning. The capabilities we provide and can provide are all the more stunning, real difference makers. For example, with such improved imagery that is data-linked and netted to command and control centers, we can enable decision-makers and the boots on the ground to act more precisely and with greater expediency.
Q: What is today’s special operations customer asking for?
A: Like every Raytheon customer, they expect no-doubt performance as promised. That means every system must work the first time, every time. Mission success and lives are at stake. As for specific mission needs, there is greater demand for ISR information. That applies to special ops. They are asking for full-motion video and more of it.
And I mentioned low-level flight. The airborne missions of our special operations customers require safety, speed and the element of surprise. They need to get in swiftly, get the job done successfully and return home safely. Our terrain following/terrain avoidance systems deliver the situational awareness and capability to fly very low in some of the most adverse conditions.
Q: What about some of the new technologies Raytheon is developing?
A: There is a new system we are developing with the U.S. Army Night Vision Systems Directorate, our Advanced Distributed Aperture System, or ADAS. ADAS gives helicopter aircrews the ability to see through the aircraft for 360-degree spherical situational awareness. Raytheon’s ADAS is solving long standing helicopter pilotage issues, such as wire detection and flying in complete darkness where other NVGs fail. And we are doing this in true HD 1080i quality.
Q: What else is on the horizon?
A: We are working solutions, like hyperspectral technologies that provide the capability to see through foliage. We are developing technologies that leave enemy forces little place to hide whether under a tree canopy, underground or in a building. We already mentioned target ID. We are improving moving target identification capabilities.
And some of the capabilities aren’t about new technologies but about being smarter in force application. The U.S. Army Common Sensor Payload for ARH and Sky Warrior is a good example of building a sensor solution that provides common acquisition, production, training, operation and display, and life cycle support.
This direction in common, yet customizable systems actually has roots in the special operations community, and it holds promise for other customers and a wider array of solutions. ♦