AIN Online:
Drawing on internal and government R&D funds Raytheon has been a pioneer of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology, with its own foundry to produce durable, military-grade transmit/receive modules (TRMs) for active electronically scanned array radars.
The technology is already employed in the company’s SPY-6(V) air and missile defense radar that is being developed for U.S. Navy vessels, and in the next-generation jammer for EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, and now it is considered as production-ready as part of the ongoing modernization effort for the Patriot air defense system.
GaN is revolutionizing the radar world. Compared with radars based on gallium arsenide (GaAs) semi-conductors the technology allows arrays to provide more capability and range, while consuming less energy.
