The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has certified that Raytheony's advanced electronics system has met an important milestone for the Long Range Radar Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) regarding the upgrade of aging radar electronics. The new radar transmitters can see out farther and will provide improved detection and clutter management capability.

The FAA recently announced that an in-service decision had been granted signifying the system has met the requirements of the contract in areas such as performance, reliability and maintainability. This decision has paved the way for production deployments.

"The FAA's decision is a considerable achievement for the program," said Mike Prout, vice president for Raytheon Network Centric Systems' Security and Transportation Systems.

"The system is a great improvement in terms of reliability and operational performance, and satisfies the government's objective to extend supportable life by at least 20 years and to control life-cycle costs while improving security in the skies."

Raytheon is upgrading the electronics that feed radar information to the U.S. government, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, and the FAA. Each radar provides surveillance over a 400 nautical mile coverage area and detects commercial and military aircraft. These radars provide greater detection capability of non-cooperative targets.

Three radar systems are currently operational in the National Airspace System, including the first production system deployment in Coopersville, Mich. Additionally, two systems are operational at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, where they are being used for training and engineering support.