THE APEX TIMES
RTX’s Raytheon wins $515 million follow-on for SPY-6 radar upgrades and support
The award expands production, integration, and testing support for the Navy’s SPY-6 radar family, including work to backfit Flight IIA destroyers with the SPY-6(V)4 variant, as RTX targets higher output by 2028.
RTX (NYSE:RTX) said its Raytheon business has received a $515 million contract from the U.S. Navy for the SPY-6 family of naval radar systems. Announced June 3, 2026, the deal is described by RTX as a follow-on to a June 2025 Integration and Production Support contract, and it is aimed at accelerating integration and test support for what Raytheon calls the Navy’s most advanced maritime radar.
According to RTX, the scope includes upgrading Flight IIA destroyers with the SPY-6(V)4 variant. The company also said the award is a sole-source arrangement and that Raytheon will continue supporting the SPY-6 radar family for the U.S. Navy, including Germany’s government, with the potential for other countries to be added through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
The contract announcement highlights the current fielding state of SPY-6: Raytheon said the radar is already aboard two commissioned U.S. Navy ships and installed on 11 others that are in varying stages of testing. Over the next decade, the company expects SPY-6 to be deployed on more than 50 U.S. Navy ships, reflecting the program’s role in the Navy’s air and missile defense posture against a range of threats.
SPY-6 is marketed as an integrated radar family designed to perform air and missile defense on multiple ship classes simultaneously. On RTX’s program page, SPY-6 is described as defending against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, hostile aircraft and surface ships, while also addressing jamming and electronic warfare, using a modular approach intended to scale across different platforms.
Raytheon also emphasized the industrial ramp behind SPY-6. In the contract announcement, RTX said Raytheon is backed by an $800 million investment to modernize radar manufacturing facilities and that it expects to double SPY-6 output by 2028. The company linked that manufacturing upgrade to the radar’s reliance on specialized semiconductors, pointing to a gallium nitride (GaN) foundry at its radar development site in Andover, Massachusetts.
The company’s longer-term appeal to the U.S. Navy and allies is tied to how the radar variants are built. RTX’s SPY-6 page explains that the family uses common hardware and software concepts across variants, organized around modular “radar modular assemblies” packaged as self-contained antenna blocks, which can be combined to fit mission requirements. For the SPY-6(V)4 specifically, RTX says it is designed for DDG 51 Flight IIA destroyers and features multiple array faces intended to expand range and sensitivity compared with the radar it replaces.
What RTX did not disclose in the contract announcement includes the contract number, the number of ships or upgrade kits directly covered by this specific $515 million modification, and a detailed schedule or remaining period of performance. It also did not provide financial guidance or quantified backlog effects. Those gaps leave uncertainty about how quickly the Navy can convert the “integration and test support” language into shipboard installations versus continued sustainment and engineering activity.
Investors and defense watchers will likely focus on follow-on decisions for SPY-6 variants, the pace of destroyer backfits, and whether RTX’s stated manufacturing plan supports the expected output increase by 2028. The company’s mention of Germany and potential additional partner nations through FMS also sets up a key watch item: whether additional allied orders or upgrade phases emerge alongside ongoing U.S. Navy deployments.
Why It Matters
- SPY-6 is central to the Navy’s air and missile defense architecture, so continued contract wins can extend Raytheon’s sustainment and modernization workload across the fleet.
- The backfit language suggests the radar program is moving beyond new builds into upgrades of existing ships, which can sustain production demand.
- RTX’s manufacturing ramp, including the stated $800 million modernization and output target by 2028, indicates that the company is positioning for multi-year volume rather than one-off deliveries.
- Mention of Germany and potential additional FMS partners points to export-driven demand as a secondary revenue engine.
- Because the announcement omits contract number, ship counts, and schedule details, the immediate impact on near-term financial results remains unclear.
Sources
Key Facts
- RTX said Raytheon received a $515 million U.S. Navy contract for the SPY-6 family of radar systems.
- The award is described as a follow-on to a June 2025 Integration and Production Support contract.
- RTX said the work includes upgrading Flight IIA destroyers with the SPY-6(V)4 variant.
- Raytheon said the contract is a sole-source award and includes support for Germany’s government, with possible expansion to other countries under Foreign Military Sales.
- RTX reported SPY-6 is aboard two commissioned U.S. Navy ships and installed on 11 additional ships undergoing testing.
- The company said it is investing $800 million to modernize its radar manufacturing facilities and expects to double SPY-6 output by 2028.
- RTX said it expects SPY-6 deployment on more than 50 U.S. Navy ships over the next decade.
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