General Atomics tests new radar warning receiver against air-defense systems
NewsApril 11, 2017
SAN DIEGO. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA?ASI) announced a successful demonstration of a radar warning receiver (RWR) on a GA-ASI Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Block 5 remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). The GA-ASI-owned Predator B operated from the company's Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California, performing against various ground-based radars.
The RWR used was the Raytheon ALR-69A, carried within GA-ASI's standard payload pod; the radar is designed to provide enhanced situational awareness to air crew and air element command-and-control units by identifying potential radar threats in or near contested airspace. During the test, the pod was able to validate RWR performance meeting or exceeding current thresholds for both air and ground radar threats. Moreover, the company found that the information the RWR sent to the flight crew was useful for triggering flight crew action, such as manually cross-cueing to other onboard sensors to validate threat information.
GA-ASI plans to conduct additional RWR demonstrations later this year, one of which will be a trial integration with Link 16, the military tactical data-exchange network.
