Raytheon's first P-8A hardware delivery, the SDL-PE will emulate the Raytheon radar interface and allow Boeing to begin early integration of the maritime surveillance radar into the aircraft mission systems backbone.

This is the first of a series of iterative milestones that will culminate in delivery of the production radar in 2008 -- a deliberate approach aimed at ensuring a tightly coupled integration of the radar into the P-8A mission system with minimum risk.

"The SDL-PE and the whole teaming approach to execution reflect the program's commitment to the Navy to deliver on time and under budget," remarked Mack Moorman, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) program manager for the P-8A radar. "Everyone's attitude is that we are going to get there, and we are going to get there together."

For the P-8A aircraft, Raytheon is providing a surveillance and tracking radar currently referred to as the APY-XXX. This new, next-generation maritime radar will be fully integrated with the Boeing mission system and contain numerous improvements, including a color weather mode, high speed data collection, and an enhanced tracker. It will also be smaller and weigh less than previous generation radars of its type.

Raytheon's same radar was cited among other possible industry team contributions for Boeing's recently announced 737 SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) Variant.

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