Raytheon Demo Advanced Maritime Radar in Australia

Raytheon Company completes test and demonstration flights of the SeaVue XMC (eXpanded Mission Capability) maritime surveillance radar in Australia.

The SeaVue XMC maritime surveillance radar's innovative features provide both radar and mission system advanced capabilities, such as automatically detecting, tracking and sorting thousands of maritime targets simultaneously and correlating radar tracks with Automatic Identification System (AIS) contacts.

The system also geographically registers radar detections to AIS data and digital nautical chart features, allowing for more precise target tracking, locating of threats and accurate cross-sensor cueing to the electro-optic system. The SeaVue XMC is currently the only system that offers these critical capabilities for persistent surveillance, tracking and identification of small targets in complex littoral environments.

Three days of flights from Cairns, Australia, demonstrated the upgraded capabilities to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, Royal Australian Air Force, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, and Defence Material Organisation -- and the U.S. Navy participated in the demonstrations.

Simon Luck, technical director for Australia's Customs and Border Protection Service, said the demonstrated capabilities of SeaVue XMC were reinforced during the trial, in particular:
    •    In broad maritime areas where medium- to high-altitude persistent surveillance is required;
    •    In littoral waters with high-density traffic requiring fast contact discrimination;
    •    In surveillance platforms where the cost or size of bandwidth is a consideration;
    •    Where a reduction in operator workload is a requirement;
    •    Where a mission system that is fully integrated with all aerial surveillance assets is required, on the ground or in command centers.

"Participants responded favorably to the trial, calling it an exciting development in maritime radar," said Luck.