Raytheon to provide Gulfstream G550 advanced telemetry system for Navy's new Range Support Aircraft

The Navy's future airborne early warning aircraft, based on a Gulfstream G550, will feature Raytheon telemetry and command transmitter subsystems. Image: c4isrnet.co

Raytheon to provide advanced telemetry system for Navy's new Range Support Aircraft

High-tech plane will support advanced weapons testing and other missions

NEWS PROVIDED BY Raytheon Company 

Nov 15, 2017, 10:00 ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $79 million contract to develop a new advanced telemetry system for the U.S. Navy's Range Support Aircraft. The high-tech plane will replace the Navy's aging telemetry test aircraft, which has been in service since the 1970s.

Based within the Gulfstream G550 airborne early warning airframe, Raytheon's modern solution will offer multi-role capabilities in telemetry data collection, range safety and surveillance, and communications relay.

"It's like replacing your old eight-track tapes with streaming digital music – there's simply no comparison," said Todd Callahan, Raytheon Naval and Area Mission Defense vice president. "Our new Range Support Aircraft will use the latest technology to support advanced weapons testing and other missions for the next 25 years."

To develop and deliver this new capability to the Navy, Raytheon will draw on its wide portfolio of products, proven technology and extensive test and evaluation expertise.  Once operational, the Range Support Aircraft will collect and process telemetry data from missiles, aircraft, UAVs and ships.

Raytheon will perform system design, fabrication and aircraft integration. Once integration is complete, the company will conduct flight testing, training and mission operations with the Navy team before delivering the much-needed range support asset.

Original post: prnewswire.com

VX-30

Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 (AIRTEVRON THREE ZERO or VX-30), nicknamed The Bloodhounds) is a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California. Using the tail code BH, they are the only squadron currently supporting the S-3B Viking platform, as well as flying Lockheed P-3 Orion and the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft, in support of the United States Navy's Sea Test Range, off the shores of central California. Source: wikiwand.com

Lockheed NP-3D Orion, BuNo 150522, #340 of VX-30 Bloodhounds. Image: air-and-space.com

The NP-3Ds were converted from P-3D Orions in 1979 with the Extended Area Test System (EATS) radar, giving the aircraft its distinctive tail. 

Lockheed NP-3D Orion, 150522 VX-30 Bloodhounds #340 is equipped with a large phased array radar to track multiple airborne targets simultaneously. Its Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) boom has been truncated.  Image: air-and-space.com

Its over-the-horizon telemetry enables VX-30 to clear the Pacific Missile Test Range, the Department of Defense’s largest overwater missile test range with 36,000 square miles of controlled sea and airspace. Source: airinternational.com