AESAs4 Module 1

Common Module

AESAs4CM
Industry Structure, TRMs and MMICs

By Terry Edwards & Dave Collier of

ENGALCO
Strategic Support for High-Tech Organizations

3 Georgian Mews, Bridlington, East Yorkshire YO15 3TG

England, United Kingdom

www.engalco-research.com

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Table of Contents
Page
Front page and Introductory Part 2
Section CM1 What is an AESA? 5

Section CM2 Frequency Bands 8

Section CM3 Transmit-Receive Modules (TRMs) 10

Section CM4 Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) 14

Section CM5 Important Technology Trends 20

Section CM6 Supply Chains Semiconductors TRMs AESA Systems 22

Section CM7 Profiles of contractors and OEMs 25

BAE Systems 26
Cassidian 27
IAI (Elta) 28
Lockheed Martin 29
Northrop Grumman 30
Raytheon 31
Selex ES 33

Definitions, Organization of the Data and Methodology 34

Methodological Sequence for Generating and Processing Data 34

Appendix Glossary of Abbreviations 36

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List of Figures
Page

Figure CM1 Block Schematic AESA Outline 7

Figure CM.2 Basic Block Diagram of a Transmit-Receive Module (TRM) 10

Figure CM.3 Opened-top View of the MAEA-009445-00000 X-band TRM

Manufactured by RF2M Microwave
(previously known as Cobham MAL, UK) 11

Figure CM.4 Opened-top View of the X-band Standard Module

Manufactured by Cassidian (Germany) 11

Figure CM.5 TRM Unit Prices in US$ by Frequency Bands 12

Figure CM.6 GaAs PA MMIC Unit Prices US$ 16

Figure CM.7 GaAs non-PA MMIC Unit Price US$ 17

Figure CM.8 GaN PA MMIC Unit Prices US$ 18

Figure CM.9 GaN non-PA MMIC Unit Prices US$ 19

Figure CM.10 Typical Overall Supply Chain Applicable to Many

AESA Systems OEMs 22

Figure CM.11 Typical Overall Supply Chain Applicable to Many TRM OEMs 23

Figure CM.12 Basic Industry Supply Chain from Materials & Basic
Components through to TRM Assembly 23

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List of Tables
Page

Table CM-1 Standard Waveguide Frequency Band Designations 8

Table CM-2 A-to-M of the NATO Frequency Band Designations 9

Table CM-3 Standard Frequency Band Designations Compared

(GHz from 1 GHz upwards to 100 GHz) 9

Table CM-4 TRM Unit Price Variations 13

Table CM-5 GaAs PA MMIC Unit Price Variations 16

Table CM-6 GaN PA MMIC Unit Price Variations 18

Table CM-7 Contractors and OEMs 25

Table CM-8 Summary Details of Elta Systems AESAs 28

Table CM-9 Lockheed Martin Sales Revenues and Net Income 2010-2012 29

Table CM-10 Summary Details of Lockheed Martin AESAs 29

Table CM-11 Summary Details of Northrop Grummans AESAs 30

Table CM-12 Northrop Grumman Sales Revenues and Net Income 2012 30

Table CM-13 Summary Details of Raytheons AESAs 31

Table CM-14 Raytheon Sales Revenues and Net Income 2010-2012 32

Table CM-15 Summary Details of Selex ES AESAs 33

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Section CM1 What is an AESA?

The first few paragraphs here are largely taken from the following item:
Active Electronically Steered Array (AESA) Airborne Radar
- Posted on the Internet by Vijainder K Thakur on Sunday, September 11, 2005
However, some editing has been introduced and further material has been
added.
Although the item above refers to airborne radar all the principles also apply
to other applications including land-based, shipboard and space-based. The
material has been slightly edited to fit with the main focus of this report.
An Active Electronically Steered (or Scanned) Array (AESA) takes the
concept of using an array antenna a step further on from the passive
electronically-scanned phased array (PESA). Instead of shifting the phase of
signals from a single high power transmitter every AESA employs a grid of
hundreds, thousands or more small "transmitter-receiver (TR)" modules (or
TRMs) that are linked together by high-speed processors.
Each TRM has its own transmitter, receiver, processing power, and a relatively
small radiator antenna on top. For some AESAs this radiating element is a
microstrip patch whilst for others (notably the US AN/APG series) the structure is
spike-like. The TRM can be programmed to act as a transmitter, receiver, and/or
radar. The TRMs in the AESA system can all work together to create a powerful
radar, but they can do different tasks in parallel, with some operating together
as a radar warning receiver, others operating together as a jammer, and the rest
operating as a radar. TRMs can be reassigned to any role, with output power or
receiver sensitivity of any one of the "subsystems" defined by such temporary
associations proportional to the number of modules.
The antenna elements are generally spaced at half-wavelength intervals
around the array.
An AESA provides 10-30 times more net radar capability plus significant
advantages in the areas of range resolution, countermeasure resistance and
flexibility. In addition, it supports high reliability combined with low maintenance
operation, which translate into lower lifecycle costs. Since the power supplies,
final power amplification and input receive amplification are distributed, MTBF is
substantially higher (typically by a factor of 10-100 than that of a passive ESA or
mechanical array). This results in higher system readiness and significant
savings in terms of life cycle cost of a weapon system, especially a fighter
aircraft.
The use of multiple TRMs also means failure of up to 10% of the TR modules
in an AESA will not cause the loss of the antenna function, but will merely
marginally degrade its performance. From a reliability and support perspective,
this graceful degradation effect is invaluable. A radar that has lost several TRMs
can continue to be operated until scheduled downtime is organized to swap the
antenna.
AESA technology has not been easy to acquire. It has derived from years of
research and heavy investmentsgenerally in order of the hundreds of millions
of dollars.

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Improvement of gallium arsenide material (GaAs) and the development of

monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) have represented key enablers
for the development of AESA technology. More recently gallium nitride (GaN)
has been showing substantial promise for higher-power RF power amplification
with accompanying higher RF conversion efficiency. Several relatively new
AESAs implement GaN technology.
Two prominent early programs in X-band AESA technology development have
been the US Army family-of-radars program (which provided the basis for the X-
band AESAs in the THAAD and GBR radars for theater and national missile
defense systems, respectively), and the Air Force programs to produce X-band
AESAs for the F-15 and the F-22 fighter jets. The investments in F-35 JSF
(Lightning II) radar technology have also fostered pivotal advances by reducing
cost, weight, and mechanical complexity. JSF transmit/receive TRMs are referred
to as "fourth generation" TRM technology.
As can be expected, this advanced technology comes at a cost and the impact
can be best appreciated when one appreciates that each TRM is actually a small
independent radar. The initial cost of a TRM was reportedly around $2000.
Fighter radars are usually in the 1000 to 2000 modules size range. In other
words just the radar antenna array alone could cost as much as $3M.
Costs are being steadily reduced although for advanced systems this
reduction is a slow process. Although a $19,000 AESA has recently been
demonstrated the transmit power available with this development is only around
40 mW per element whereas practical radars demand upwards of 4 W per
element. It is the RF output power requirement that mainly drives up the cost of
AESAs.
This new state-of-the-art AESA technology is becoming the de-facto standard
for the primary sensor on advanced fighter aircraft and enables even better
reliability, reduced lifecycle costs and improved detection capability.
Monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) are extensively
implemented within each TRM. Currently and foreseeably over the next few
years, gallium arsenide (GaAs) is the primary semiconductor employed for
manufacturing these MMICs. Driver, phase-shifter, modulator and amplifying
functions are required. The amplifying functions fall into three basic categories:
driver, power amplifier (PA) and (for the receive section) low-noise (LNA). Whilst
GaAs MMICs provide excellent driver and LNA chips the advent of gallium nitride
(GaN) PAs opens up new opportunities. As GaN PA MMICs gain acceptance and
availability (a serious ITAR issue outside of the USA.) their implementation in
AESA TRMs means at least a doubling of radar range.
Phase-shifters often comprise a special MMIC chip but occasionally,
increasingly over the next few years, this function will become absorbed within
another MMIC chipthe LNA for example. Later on MEMS (micro-electro-
mechanical-systems) will likely provide this function and the leading systems
OEM Raytheon is, for example, currently working on this option.

Figure CM1.1 is given here as a very basic outline to aid an understanding as

to how an AESA works.

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Figure CM.1 Block Schematic AESA Outline

TRM 1

TRM 2

TRM 3
Radar
Signal
Inputs
(Transmit-
side) and
Outputs (to TRM 4
DSPs and
Display/s)
TRM 5

TRM 6

COTS-based Digital Computer

In Figure CM1.1 only 30 elements are shownas small squares on the circular
AESA arraywhereas in practice this number can be almost anything between
10 and 100,000or occasionally even more.
Although shown separately in Figure CM1.1, in practice each antenna element
is physically very close to its own dedicated TRM. Also for simplicity only six
TRMs are indicated in bold outline and labelled. In practice every one of the 30
elements would need an associated TRM so the total number of TRMs would also
be 30.
The acronym COTS stands for commercial off the shelf, DSP stands for
digital signal processor and TRM stands for transmit-receive module. It
should be noted that the RF (microwave) signal is generated, modulated, phase-
shifted and amplified on the transmit side of each TRM and processed on both
transmit and receive sides.
Each array (antenna) element is inherently associated with a TRM and there
are thus N TRMs for a system having N elements. Again we would stress:

10 N 100,000 (or very occasionally even more)

The computer controls all the TRMsdynamically turning them on or off by

dynamic programming according to the desired real-time scan mode.

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Section CM2 Frequency Bands

The issue of standard frequency bands is very important for any appreciation of
communications or radar systems. There are many frequency band specification
ranges but the most significant three will be introduced here.
The first standard in this respect is the ITU standard ranges all of which begin
and end with frequencies that are multiples of 3. Thus:
Very High Frequency (v.h.f.) is 30 to 300 MHz
Ultra High Frequency (u.h.f.) is 300 to 3,000 MHz (0.3 to 3 GHz)
Super High Frequency (s.h.f.) is 3,000 to 30,000 MHz (3 to 30 GHz)
Extra High Frequency (e.h.f.) is 30,000 to 300,000 MHz (30 to 300 GHz)
etc., etc.

The reason for the 3 multiple is found in the relative simplicity with which
wavelength can be calculated the number 3 x 108 ms-1 being a very good
approximation to the free-space velocity of the signal. Thus the wavelength @ 3
GHz is easily calculated as 10 cm (100 mm).
The great majority of radars operate across frequency bands within u.h.f. or
s.h.f. but a far more precise knowledge of the frequency ranges is required.
Although dating back to World War II technology when microwave rectangular
waveguides were prevalent the letter designated waveguide bands remain
highly popular today. These bands were also established in an IEEE publication
dated 1984. They are indicated with their approximate limits in Table CM-1.

Table CM-1 Standard Waveguide Frequency Band Designations

In practical terms this means that an AESA operating in the frequency range
1.3 to 1.6 GHz works in L-band. Another AESA operating in the frequency range
8.4 to 10 GHz works within X-band, etc.
Several years back a NATO committee, recognizing (hoping?) that the
waveguide bands would quite soon become obsolete, decided upon a new
designation sequence that operates alphabetically: A through M. These are
shown in Table CM-2.

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Table CM-2 A-to-M of the NATO Frequency Band Designations

NATO Band Designation Frequency (GHz)

A Up to 0.25
B 0.250.5
C 0.51
D 12
E 2-3
F 3-4
G 4-6
H 6-8
I 8-10
J 10-20
K 20-40
L 40-60
M 60-100

Some European OEM companies (e.g. Thales) tend to adopt these

designations and the research firm known as Janes also quote these NATO
bands in their directories and other publications.
Before discussing the implications of these two co-existing sets of
designations it is helpful to consider a comparative chart and this is given as
Table CM-3 below.

Table CM-3 Standard Frequency Band Designations Compared (GHz from 1

GHz upwards to 100 GHz)

Waveguide Bands:- 1.12 2.26 3.95 8.2 12.4 18.0 26.5 36 46 56 100
Designation letter:- L S C X Ku K Ka Q V W

NATO Bands:- 1 2 3 468 10 20 40 60 100

Designation letter:- D E F GH I J K L M

Unfortunately each sequence of bands shown in Table CM-3 shares two

letters: I and Lalthough the actual frequency bands differ markedly. Care and
questioning are needed in specific situations to decide upon precisely what
frequencies are meant.
The majority of radar systems operate in what is normally termed the X-band
(shown in bold on Table CM-3) or, notably with some NATO systems, the
(narrower) I-band (which is also shown in bold on Figure CM-3).
Some radars, notably wide-area surveillance systems, operate at lower
frequencies. The L-band (or D-band) or alternatively S-or C-bands are often
selected in these instances. Notice that the L (or D) band is within the UHF
frequency range which runs from 300 MHz to 3,000 MHz (i.e. 3 GHz).
The NATO E-band (2 to 3 GHz) is particularly confusing because the
term E-band has become generally associated with the 60 to 80 GHz
millimeter-wave communications bands.
Although officially very historical the waveguide bands remain extensively
adopted and this is likely to remain the case.

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Section CM3 Transmit-Receive Modules (TRMs)

As described above every AESAs array is composed of N TRMs where N is

generally somewhere between 30 and 50,000. Each TRM resembles an ultra-
miniature solid-state radar connecting to an elementary antenna. Also, each
TRM has the basic general configuration shown in the block diagram of Figure
CM.2.

Figure CM.2 Basic Block Diagram of a Transmit-Receive Module (TRM)

Reference:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.microwaves101.com/encycl
opedia/images/TR%2520Module/block%2520diagram1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ww
w.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/transmitreceivemodules.cfm&h=396&w=69
5&sz=33&tbnid=PoAbdGSqEBRQSM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=124&prev=/search%3Fq
%3Dtransmit%2Breceive%2Bmodule%2Bdesign%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du
&zoom=1&q=transmit+receive+module+design&usg=__V7wO5L4slh921jRNzMq
3t-
Eh1_E=&docid=Cr9UZxfrFc9d_M&sa=X&ei=DeVmUfS1G6KI0AW_r4CADQ&ved=
0CFcQ9QEwBw&dur=419

Since this is not a technical report the details concerning the components
within the TRM will not be considered in detail and only the necessary overall
points are described.
In Figure CM.2 what is termed a manifold to the left of the attenuator
comprises the computer-controlled signal processing parts of the AESA. Most of
these functions are digital but this is also where the microwave signal is
generated, preceding transmission, and also where the received signal is
ultimately processed. The antenna element is to the top right of the block
diagram.

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In any transmit-receive module there are two major signal paths: the
transmit path and the receive path. In Figure CM.2 the transmit path runs
through the uppermost section whilst the receive path runs through the lower
section. The components labelled circulators can actually be realized as ferrite
circulators or (increasingly) this function can be performed using MEMS.
The common leg amplifier feeds the digitally-controlled phase-shifter
which has a pivotal role to play in any phased-array radar (an AESA is one type
of phased-array radar).
In using this report it is important to appreciate that there exist two classes of
MMIC (see below) that are always implemented in any AESA TRM:

The RF Power Amplifier (PA).

The non-PA MMICs.

In Figure CM.2 the non-PA MMICs include the attenuator, the three switches
(all embodied within one MMIC), the LNA, the phase-shifter (with its common leg
amplifier) and the driver amplifier. In most instances there is further
consolidation resulting in a total of typically four non-PA MMICs per TRM.
The RF power amplifier (or PA) is unique in terms of specification and is
always considerably more expensive than any of the non-PA MMICs.
GaAs MMIC technology pervades most of the AESA scene but some production
AESAs already implement gallium nitride (GaN) for the PAs at least in the first
instance. These matters are discussed further below in the sub-section on
technology trends.
An example of a production TRM is the module shown in Figure CM.3.

Figure CM.3 Opened-top View of the MAEA-009445-00000 X-band TRM

Manufactured by RF2M Microwave (previously known as Cobham MAL, UK)

Several MMICs and other components are visible in this module. Most notable
is the PA which is just to the left of the grey-colored three-port circulator. This
TRM operates over 9-10 GHz (X-band) and the peak output power available from
the PA is 8.5 W.
Main OEMs manufacturing TRMs are identified later in this section but the next
TRM shown in detail in Figure CM.4 is Cassidians Standard Module.

Figure CM.4 Opened-top View of the X-band Standard Module, Manufactured

by Cassidian (Germany)

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The photograph of this Standard Module is shown reversed left-to-right

compared with RF2Ms MAEA-009445 shown in Figure CM.3. In this case, for the
Standard Module, the circulator appears to the far left of the module.
This Standard Module is implemented in Cassidians Spexer series of
AESAs and it is anticipated the module may also be introduced into the new
Captor-E AESA for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
Many other OEMs manufacture TRMs including Elisra, Northrop Grumman
and Selex AS and in many instances the frequency bands differ considerably
from X-band, e.g. L-band, S-band, C-band and occasionally higher bands such
as Ku. Supply chains, contractors and OEMs are discussed below.

Typical TRM Unit Prices

Recent historical and current (2013) unit prices were generated for AESA
TRMs by starting with known industrial unit prices for the constituent MMICs and
then working upwards using a process introducing bills-of-materials (BoM),
engineering costs and profit margin (where applicable).
We then applied a price-decrease formula that is mainly based upon volume-
related breakpoint price reductions. Therefore, as the volume shipments of
AESAs increases substantially (hence the volume of TRMs even more because
there are hundreds or even thousands of TRMs per AESA) so the unit price
decreases slowly but steadily.
At this point an important caveat must be noted. We are assuming
that within the forecast period single-MMIC (or even dual-MMIC) TRMs
do not enter production. If in any year they do enter service then we
would expect the new TRM unit prices to initially be more expensive
than current multi-MMIC TRMs. Although in the longer-run costs would
come down as a result of the simpler unit designs.
Figure CM.5 shows the unit price data with the different frequency bands as
the parameter.

Figure CM.5 TRM Unit Prices in US$ by Frequency Bands

1000
900
800
TRM Unit Price US$

700
Ku-band
600
X-band
500
C-band
400
S-band
300
L-band
200
100
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

N.B. Please note the false zero on the vertical axis.

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Each type of module attracts a markedly different unit price. Also in all
instances unit prices drift downwards with time, but at different rates of
decrease.
Table CM-4 summarizes the situation.

Table CM-4 TRM Unit Price Variations

Frequency Band Relative Unit Price Level Relative Unit Price

Decrease over Time
L, S and C-bands Lowest (relative ease of Slowest (low-to-moderate
production) markets continuing)
X-band Medium (most prevalent Greatest (largest market &
several standard modules) increasing)
Ku-band Highest (few currently e.g. Moderate
AN/ASQ-36 & VADER)

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Section CM4 Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs)

Practically all 21st century electronics embodies integrated circuit (IC)

technology and of course silicon ICs dominate the overall scene. In fact all the
ICs implemented in computers towers or laptops utilize exclusively silicon-
based technology and most ICs within communications systems including
smartphones also use this technology.
There are however design requirements for which silicon ICs are not suitable
and indeed where silicon technology generally cannot meet the component
specification demands. At least four factors conspire to drive designers toward
non-silicon technologies:

Operating frequencies ranging from L-band through Ku-band.

At these frequencies RF output power levels of several Watts.
At these frequencies LNAs on the receive side.
At these frequencies N-bit phase shifters on the transmit side.

In all these instances silicon IC technology is unsuitable and therefore ICs

based on various compound semiconductors must be used. The resulting ICs are
generally termed: monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) or
occasionally RF integrated circuits (RFICs).
MMIC design requires the careful initial selection of a semiconductor
foundation and then an associated transistor process. Suitable materials include:

Gallium arsenide (GaAsa widely-used compound semiconductor).

Gallium nitride (GaNan increasingly important wide band-gap
compound semiconductor. Notably for power amplifiers but can be used
more extensively).
Silicon-Germanium (SiGea highly promising compound
semiconductor).

Many types of transistors and MMICs are manufactured using the above
semiconductor materials. The choice is generally termed the process by MMIC
design houses and manufacturing fabs. Specific types of transistor processes
include:

GaAs FETs (more correctly GaAs MESFETs) metal electrode

semiconductor.
HBTsheterojunction bipolar transistors.
pHEMTspseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors.

HBT and pHEMT processes are applicable to either GaAs or the more recent
GaN MMIC technologies.
SiGe-based MMICs offer some important advantages for TRMs but in this
report the focus is on the important GaAs and GaN MMIC
implementations.

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Currently and likely for many years ahead by far the great majority of
AESA TRMs implement GaAs MMICs. But there are already several production
GaN-based AESA implementations and this trend will almost certainly continue
as new designs enter the market.
Returning to Figure CM.2 (above) it is worth summarizing the MMICs involved
as follows:

Attenuator.
Switches (x3).
N-bit Phase-shifter (together with its common leg amplifier).
Driver amplifier.
RF power amplifier (or PA).

The first four MMICs are defined for the purposes of this report as non-PA.
As mentioned above the PA is by far the most critical (and relatively expensive)
MMIC. Amongst many suppliers the following are mentioned here: Cassidian
(Germany), Cree (GaN), Northrop Grumman GaAs and GaN), (RFcore (Korea),
RFMD, TriQuint (GaAs and GaN), UMS (GaAs & GaN. France & Germany). Cree,
Northrop, RFMD and TriQuint are all US-based. Further information is provided in
sub-section CM7 below. The MMICs are either obtained in standard QFN
packages (e.g. RF2M Microwave see Figure CM.3 above) or in bare chip (die)
form (e.g. Cassidian see Figure CM.4 above). Unit prices or average selling
prices vary considerably and depend on many technological and economic
factors.
Unit prices were obtained for AESA TRM MMICs from a number of sources.
Using the same basic methodology that we employed for TRMs we again
applied a price-decrease formula that is mainly based upon volume-related
breakpoint price reductions. Therefore as the volume shipments of MMICs
increases substantially so the unit price decreases over time but at different
rates. When considering MMICs it is necessary to bear in mind that whilst there
will be hundreds or even (often) thousands of TRMs per array each TRM contains
several MMICs (a variable number that we expect to decrease somewhat over
the forecast period).
Once again we must repeat some of the important caveats cited
above:
At this point an important caveat must be noted. We are assuming
that within the forecast period single-MMIC (or even dual-MMIC) TRMs
do not enter production. If in any year they do enter service then we
would expect the new TRM unit prices to initially be more expensive
than current multi-MMIC TRMs. Although in the longer-run costs would
come down as a result of the simpler unit designs.

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Figure CM.6 shows the unit price data for GaAs PA MMICs with the different
frequency bands as the parameter.

Figure CM.6 GaAs PA MMIC Unit Prices US$

28
26
24 Ku-band PA
MMIC Unit Price US$

22 X-band PA
20 C-band PA
18 S-band PA
16 L-band PA
14
12
10
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

N.B. Please note the false zero on the vertical axis.

PA MMICs are always considerably more expensive than non-PA MMICs

because of the more sophisticated design and manufacturing requirements as
well as the heat extraction demands.
Table CM-5 summarizes the situation.

Table CM-5 GaAs PA MMIC Unit Price Variations

Frequency Band Relative Unit Price Level Relative Unit Price

Decrease over Time
L, S and C-bands Lowest (relative ease of Slowest (low-to-moderate
fabrication) markets continuing)
X-band Medium (most prevalent & Greatest (largest market &
in several standard increasing)
modules)
Ku-band Highest (few currently e.g. Moderate
AN/ASQ-36 & VADER)

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Figure CM.7 shows the unit price data for GaAs non-PA MMICs with the
different frequency bands as the parameter.

Figure CM.7 GaAs non-PA MMIC Unit Price US$

14

13
Ku-band non-PA
12
MMIC Unit Price US$

X-band non-PA
11 C-band non-PA
10 S-band non-PA

9 L-band non-PA

6
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

N.B. Please note the false zero on the vertical axis.

The main contrast between these data and those applying to GaAs PA MMICs
is the much lower unit prices.
The decreases over time are similar and for the same reasons as given above
for GaAs PA MMICs.

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Figure CM.8 shows the unit price data for GaN PA MMICs with the different
frequency bands as the parameter.

Figure CM.8 GaN PA MMIC Unit Prices US$

75

70
X-band PA
MMIC Unit Price US$

65
C-band PA
60
S-band PA
55 L-band PA

50

45

40
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

N.B. Please note the false zero on the vertical axis.

As explained above (for GaAs MMICs) PA MMICs are always considerably

more expensive than non-PA MMICs because of the more sophisticated design
and manufacturing requirements as well as the heat extraction demands. This
applies even more to GaN PA MMICs because of the higher power and voltage
levels. Therefore the unit prices of all GaN PA MMICs are considerably higher
than their GaAs PA MMIC counterparts. Table CM-6 summarizes the situation.

Table CM-6 GaN PA MMIC Unit Price Variations

Frequency Band Relative Unit Price Level Relative Unit Price

Decrease over Time
L, S and C-bands Lowest (relative ease of Slowest (low-to-moderate
fabrication) markets continuing)
X-band Medium (most prevalent & Greatest (largest market &
in several standard increasing)
modules)

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Figure CM.9 shows the unit price data for GaN non-PA MMICs with the
different frequency bands as the parameter.

Figure CM.9 GaN non-PA MMIC Unit Prices US$

24
23
22
MMIC Unit Price US$

21 X-band non-PA

20 C-band non-PA
19 S-band non-PA
18 L-band non-PA
17
16
15
14
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year

N.B. Please note the false zero on the vertical axis.

The main contrast between these data and those applying to GaN PA MMICs
is the much lower unit prices. The price ratio is approximately one-third.
The decreases over time are similar and for the same reasons as given above
for GaN PA MMICs.

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Section CM5 Important Technology Trends

Two of the most significant aspects relating to technology and choices are:
Availability.
Reliability.
The MMICs and other RF/microwave components required for AESAs are
generally available in the necessary production numbers. The vital aspect of
reliability is well assured whether GaAs-based or the newer GaN-based
technology is chosen.
TRM reliability (and very importantly yield) is another matter. Back in the
1990s and the early-2000s there were serious questions relating to TRM yield
but currently and foreseeably the yield generally obtainable with TRMs is greatly
improved.
In common with practically all electronic systems there is a trend toward more
complex functionality in the ICs mainly MMICs in the case of AESAs. The one
exception is the RFPA where (as described above) special requirements apply.
With time however more complex functionality should be expected in the non-PA
chip-sets.
Some details concerning two programs are next provided here: one from
Northrop Grumman and one from Raytheon.
Northrop Grumman is actively involved in its AESA ManTech
(manufacturing technology) program which aims for continuing high-density,
low-cost technology solutions. In particular the company is developing:
Conformal Aperture Technology.
Advanced Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Fabrication Technology.
GaAs Flip Chip Assembly to Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (LTCC).

The last bullet above effectively addresses the important subject of Integrated
Microwave Assemblies and there is much to be gained in terms of increased
reliability combined with decreased production costs associated with this
approach.
Northrop Grumman is also highly active in GaN MMIC developments.
The Raytheon Company Northrops main competitor is also deep into
GaN activities notably the following (abridged) extracts from the Companys
website:
Raytheon TEGaN DARPA supported 11 April '12.htm
The aim of this project is to increase the power-handling capabilities of GaN
devices.
TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company
(NYSE: RTN) has been awarded an 18-month, $1.8 million contract by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop next-
generation Gallium Nitride devices bonded to diamond substrates. The
technology, called Thermally Enhanced Gallium Nitride (TEGaN), seeks to
increase the power handling capability of GaN devices by at least three times.
TEGaN enables state-of-the-art transistors and monolithic microwave integrated
circuits (MMICs) to achieve their full performance potential by reducing thermal
resistance. TEGaN acts as a multiplier for GaN's unique qualities, which may
dramatically reduce the cost, size, weight and power of defense systems. Over
the course of the 18-month contract, Raytheon seeks to develop and test
TEGaN's capabilities and establish a clear path to technology insertion into
military systems.

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Leap-ahead Capability for Military Systems

Gallium Nitride is a core competency within Raytheon and an integral technology
behind some of the company's major radar programs (visit
http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/radar/). GaN's unique qualities allow
radar, electronic warfare and communications systems to be smaller, more
affordable and highly efficient.
"Raytheon continues to be at the forefront of GaN technology development,"
said Joe Biondi, vice president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon's
Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business. "We are pushing the envelope of
this proven technology to provide our warfighters with the most advanced
sensing, communications and electronic warfare capabilities in the world."
Advanced Technology Group An Incubator for Innovation
Work for this contract will be performed by Raytheon IDS' Advanced Technology
group at the Integrated Air Defense Center in Andover, Mass. The group
specializes in contract research and development programs, particularly
multifunction radar frequency systems and advanced semiconductors. The
unique technology solutions that originate from the Advanced Technology group
provide discriminators and new business opportunities for the entire company.

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Section CM6 Supply Chains Semiconductors TRMs AESA Systems

A summary of the basic overall industry supply chain applying to many AESA
systems OEMs is provided as Figure CM.10.

Figure CM.10 Typical Overall Supply Chain Applicable to Many AESA Systems
OEMs

Manufacturer of
ceramic packages
(housings)

AESA Systems
MMIC supplier OEM
(fabless or pure-
play fab)

Supplier of other
RF & related
components

Manufacturers of ceramic packages for this type of application include:

Kyocera America (USA), Merrimac Industries (USA now owned by Crane
Company) and Technograph (UK). MMIC suppliers are considered extensively in
Section 4 above. There are many suppliers of RF and other related components
(including circuit boards or cards) including supply from authorized distributor
firms.
We can now drill down deeper to indicate how the supply chain operates for
the TRM OEM. The TRM assembly may take place within the AESA Systems OEM
(this situation is the most prevalent and as shown in Figure CM.10) or this
activity may be the province of a stand-alone TRM manufacturer as indicated in
Figure CM.11 below.

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Figure CM.11 Typical Overall Supply Chain Applicable to Many TRM OEMs

Manufacturer of
ceramic packages
(housings)

MMIC supplier TRM OEM

(fabless or pure-
play fab)

Supplier of other
RF & related
components

The only difference between the supply chain indicated in Figure CM.10 and
CM.11 is the nature of the OEM at the end point.
In practice whether an AESA final systems manufacturer or a TRM
manufacturer is being considered substantial feedback and feed-forward
interactions occur and these are shown in Figure CM.12.

Figure CM.12 Basic Industry Supply Chain from Materials & Basic Components
through to TRM Assembly

Materials & basic Materials forming

component sources: & processing:
plastics, aluminium shaping, forming,
block, connectors, MMIC chips; OEM assembly
semiconductors discrete operations
etc. transistors, etc.

From Figure CM.12 it can be seen that much feed-around occurs between
the major stages.
Basic materials include ceramics, aluminium block and semiconductors. These
materials are prepared and marketed by specialist companies. Examples of
important semiconductors include: silicon (Si), silicon-germanium (SiGe),
compounds involving gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and
increasingly gallium nitride (GaN) or silicon carbide (SiC).

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These are supplied on to the semiconductor fabrication "fab" plants or

foundries where the MMICs, RFICs or discrete transistors are manufactured.
Components including capacitors, connectors and diodes are also usually
required. The OEM designs the TRM, sources its input requirements from this
component level and assembles these components to form the final product.
Where the product is a passive component there is no need for semiconductor
chips but there will still be a requirement for final assembly.
Higher degrees of automation are currently being applied to this OEM
manufacturing stage. Following TRMs manufacture the modules are sold on to
the RF systems integration stage for final assembly into the antenna array.
Currently (2013) in economies outside of the USA the ITAR (US) restrictions
are exerting substantial pressures on the supply of appropriate semiconductors
for AESA TRM manufacture. One particular issue concerns MMICs based on GaN,
(from the USA) which are therefore important for RF power amplifiers (see
above.
Thermal management, assembly and packaging are vital foci as indicated in
particular by the Raytheon GaN with diamond heat sink as described above.

Further specific supply chains are provided within the profiles of contractors
and OEMs below.

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Section CM7 Profiles of Contractors and OEMs

In this section the main contractors and OEMs are identified, together with
information concerning their current operating status. Table CM-7 summarizes
this information.
Table CM-7 Contractors and OEMs
Contractor/OEM AESA TRM MMICs Comments
Manufacturer Manufacturer Fabricator
BAE Systems Yes No No Buy-in TRMs
Cassidian Yes Yes No Buy-in
MMICs1
CEA Technologies Yes No No Buy-in TRMs2
IAI (Elta) Yes No No Buy-in TRMs
ITT Gilfillan Yes No No Buy-in TRMs
Lockheed Martin Yes Yes3 No Buy-in MMICs
Northrop Yes Yes4 Yes5
Grumman
Raytheon Yes No6 No6 Buy-in TRMs
RF2M Microwave7 No Yes No Buy-in MMICs
RFcore8 No Yes Yes
Saab Yes No No Buy-in TRMs
Selex ES Yes Yes No Buy-in
MMICs9
Thales Yes Yes10 Yes:
Thales/Cassidian

(1) From UMS (Ulm). UMS fab GaAs and GaN MMICs.
(2) Likely operate a TRM manufacturing agreement with RFcore (Korea).
(3) At least the TRMs for the AN/TPQ-53 (previously EQ-36).
(4) AESA ManTech program. GaAs flip-chip assembly onto LTCC.
(5) Internal GaAs foundry.
(6) Raytheon retains in-house capabilities for both TRM manufacture and
GaN-based MMICs. However, Kyocera America makes TRMs for
Raytheon under contract.
www.KYOCERA _ Semiconductor Parts _ Government & Aerospace _
Phased Array.htm
(7) RF2M Microwave was previously Cobham MAL. RF2M manufactures an
S-band LDMOS-based TRM and an X-band MMIC-based TRM. RF2M
Microwave is owned by API Technologies Corp.
www.rf2mapitech.com/aesa.html
(8) Korea-based RFcore manufactures an X-band TRM, a much wider-band
TRM and a 2-6 GHz MMIC phase-shifter.
(9) Selex ES has a Strategic Supply Agreement with RFMD which runs
through until at least the end of 2013. Under this Agreement Selex ES
purchases MMICs from RFMD Newton Aycliffe (UK).
(10) For Thales capability see: www.thalesgroup.com/microelectronics

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Company Profiles.
In this sub-section the following companies are briefly profiled:
BAE Systems.
Cassidian.
IAI.
Lockheed Martin.
Northrop Grumman.
Raytheon.
Selex ES.

BAE Systems. www.baesystems.com

BAE Systems is Britains principal aerospace manufacturer. In defense terms

ranking number three in global defense rankings (just behind Boeing), the
Company manufactures the Artisan 3D shipboard AESA radar. GaN-based and
operating in S-band Artisan is BAE Systems the next generation medium range
3D surveillance radar for the Royal Navy and replaces the Type 996 surveillance
and target indication radar. Designed to be modular and highly configurable it
provides a cost-effective high-performance radar, capable of operating
effectively in littoral zones and improving air-defence, anti-surface (anti-ship)
and air traffic management capabilities.
Artisan 3D is already in service with the Royal Navy equipping the Albion and
Ocean class Assault Ships. It will also be fitted from build to the Queen Elizabeth
Class Aircraft Carriers and retrofitted to Type 23 Frigates, amphibious assault
ships and helicopter carrier. This AESA is an advanced development based on
the Companys earlier SAMPSON AESA.
Since Artisan 3D implements GaN MMICs within the TRMs it is likely the TRMs
are obtained from RF2M who in turn purchase the GaN MMICs from UMS (Ulm).

MMICs from TRMs (possibly BAE Systems

UMS RF2M) (AESAs)

BAE Systems is also the principal partner in the Eurofighter Consortium,

manufacturing the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft. In December 2012 the
Sultanate of Oman placed an order to purchase 12 Typhoon fighters and 8 Hawk
Advanced Jet Trainers.
The Companys sales amounted to about US$28.5B by the end of financial
year 2012, which was down by around 7% compared with the 2011 result and
down by around 14% compared with the 2011 result. Net profit for 2012, at
US$1.7B was also down compared with the previous two years.
When added together the UK, the rest of Europe and the USA account for the
major proportion of BAE Systems sales.
The year 2010 represented a peak in this Companys trading performance.
Electronic Systems, the division responsible for AESAs amongst many other
products, accounts for about 14% of BAEs total annual sales.
There is a clear need to target all segments in terms of driving-up sales and
profitability in 2013.

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Cassidian. www.cassidian.com

The defense and security subsidiary of EADS, Cassidian manufactures the

following X-band AESAs, mainly for land-based applications:

The GaAs-based SPEXER series of AESAs (SPEXER 500 through SPEXER

2000).
TRS-4D (GaN-based).
BUR which is directly derived from SPEXER 2000).

Cassidian also has a strong interest in the Eurofighter Consortium (see BAE
Systems profile above).
The Companys total revenue for 2012 was approximately US$7.5B which
was down by about 11% on the 2011 result. The Company is the only one of
EADS subsidiaries that suffered a decrease in sales during 2012.
GaAs-based or GaN-based MMICs are obtained from United Monolithic
Semiconductors (UMS):
http://www.ums-gaas.com

Supply chain:

GaAs or GaN Cassidian

MMICs from (TRMs &
UMS AESAs)

Clearly Cassidian needs to substantially ramp-up its sales of products such as

the SPEXER series of AESA radars and TRS-4D.

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Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). www.iai.co.il

IAI generates annual revenues in the region of US$7B with net income
exceeding US$200M.
The Company is structured into the following six main groups:

Commercial Aircraft.
Bedek Aviation.
Elta Systems.
Engineering.
Military Aircraft.
Missiles, Systems & Space.

Amongst these the Elta Systems Group is by far the most important for this
report because Elta Systems manufactures radars. Every Elta Systems radar
bears the initial prefix EL/ in its code description. Financially, Eltas
contribution to IAIs annual revenues is probably around 10-12%.
The AESAs that Elta Systems are summarized in Table CM-8.

Table CM-8 Summary Details of Elta Systems AESAs

Elta Code Platform Comments
EL/M-2052 Airborne Tejas & other non-US
platforms
EL/M-2083 Airborne Aerostat-mounted
EL/M-2085 Airborne
EL/W-2085 (L-band) Airborne For Gulfstream G550
(CAEW)
EL/W-2085 (S-band) Airborne For Gulfstream G550
(CAEW)
EL/W-2090 Airborne For Gulfstream G550
(upgraded CAEW)
EL/M-2080 Green Pine Land-based (truck-
mounted)
EL/M-2248 MF-STAR Shipboard
EL/M-2258 Shipboard
Super Green Pine Land-based (truck- Deliveries to start in
mounted) 2015

Further details are provided for all these systems in the appropriate modules
of this report: Airborne, Land-based and Shipboard.
Likely supply chain:

GaAs or GaN Elta (TRMs &

MMICs from AESAs)
TriQuint or UMS

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Lockheed Martin. www.lockheedmartin.com

Lockheed Martin is a major American aerospace contractor. The corporation is

probably best known for being the lead contractor on the F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter (JSF Lightning II) program. Despite serious current delays this program
remains the western worlds most important military aircraft program.
Over at least the past three years the Corporation has continually increased
sales revenues as well as remaining solidly profitable. The basic financial data
are shown in Table CM-9.

Table CM-9 Lockheed Martin Sales Revenues and Net Income 2010-2012

Item 2010 2011 2012

Revenues US$B 45.67 46.5 47.18
Net Income US$B 2.88 2.65 2.74
As % 6.3 5.7 5.8

The Corporations AESAs are listed in Table CM-10.

Table CM-10 Summary Details of Lockheed Martin AESAs

Code Platform Comments

AN/SPY-4 Shipboard The S-band part of
AMDR (GaN-based VSR1)
AN/TPQ-53 (previously Land-based Truck-mounted & used
known as EQ-36) in EAPS2

1. VSR = volume search radar.

2. EAPS = extended area protection and survivability.

Further details are provided for all these systems in the Land-based and
Shipboard modules of this report.
Lockheed Martin is amongst seven contractors bidding for the FlexDAR
distributed array radar and the 3DELRR systems.

The Corporation has internal capability for manufacturing TRMs but buys-in
MMICs from the likes of Cree, RFMD or TriQuint.

Supply chain:

GaAs or GaN Lockheed

MMICs from Martin (TRMs &
Cree, RFMD, AESAs)
TriQuint, etc.

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Northrop Grumman. www.northropgrumman.com

Competing strongly with Raytheon (see profile) Northrop Grumman

manufactures the following AESA radars:

Table CM-11 Summary Details of Northrop Grummans AESAs

Code Platform Comments
AN/APG-77 Airborne Northrop
Grumman/Raytheon JV.
For F-22 Raptor. Likely
revival with possible export
orders
AN/APG-81 Airborne For F-35 JSF
AN/ASQ-236 Airborne For F-15E. Pod-mounted
AN/ZPY-2 (previously MP- Airborne JV led by Northrop
RTIP) Grumman; Raytheon, US
Air Force Electronics.
For Global Hawk UAV
(except Triton).
AN/ZPY-1 Airborne For MQ1-C Gray Eagle
Starlite UAV. Also installed on
PTOS aerostat
MESA Airborne For Boeing 737 AEW & C
MFAS Airborne For Triton (MQ-4C)
SABR Airborne Upgrades/retrofits*
AN/TPS-80 (G/ATOR) Land-based Could be developed to form
3DELRR
HAMMR Land-based Truck-mounted.
Implements GaN MMICs.
* SABR competes heavily with Raytheons RACR (q.v.)
Competing with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon for the 3DELRR development
contract.
Further details are provided for all these systems in the appropriate modules
of this report: Airborne, Land-based and Shipboard.
Northrop Grumman has internal GaAs and GaN MMIC foundries and therefore
the Corporation could use this internal supply for all the TRMs required in all the
above AESA systems.
The Corporations 2012 financial data were recorded as shown in Table CM-
12.

Table CM-12 Northrop Grumman Sales Revenues and Net Income 2012
Item 2012
Revenues US$B 25.22
Net Income US$B 1.98
As % 7.8
Northrop Grumman also quotes the Corporation as having experienced a
3.63% decline in annual sales revenues over the past five years.
The Corporation remains sensitive to changes in US Defense expenditure. In
particular the future of the F-35 Lightning II JSF remains uncertain and there
are likely to be cut-backs to the Global Hawk program. It can be seen from Table
CM.8 that Northrop Grumman manufactures AESAs for both programs.

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Raytheon Company. www.raytheon.com

The worlds largest radar manufacturer, Raytheon supplies the following AESA
radars:
Table CM-13 Summary Details of Raytheons AESAs
Code Platform Comments
AN/APG-63(V3) Airborne For F-15
AN/APG-77 Airborne Northrop
Grumman/Raytheon JV.
For F-22 Raptor. Likely
revival with possible export
orders
AN/APG-79 Airborne For F-18E/F & EA-18
Growler
AN/APG-82 (V)1 Airborne For F-15E
AN/APQ-181 Airborne For B2A Spirit
AN/APS-149 Airborne Raytheon-Boeing JV for
AEW&C aircraft
AN/ZPY-2 (previously MP- Airborne JV led by Northrop
RTIP) Grumman; Raytheon, US
Air Force Electronics.
For Global Hawk UAV
(except Triton).
RACR Airborne Upgrades & retrofits
VADER Airborne UAVs & some manned
aircraft. Pod-mounted.
AN/SPY-3 Shipboard X-band part of AMDR GaN-
based MMICs
AN/TPN-31 ATNAVICS Land-based
AN/TPY-2 Land-based Radar within the THAAD
(THAAD-GBR/FBX-T) system
BMEWS Land-based

* RACR competes heavily with Northrop Grummans SABR (q.v.)

Further details are provided for all these systems in the appropriate modules
of this report: Airborne, Land-based and Shipboard.
Raytheon is also competing with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for
the 3DELRR development contract.
The Company retains in-house capabilities for both TRM manufacture and
GaN-based MMICs. However, Kyocera America makes TRMs for Raytheon under
contract and it is likely Raytheon frequently acquires GaAs MMICs and other
strategically vital components from MMIC manufacturers such as RFMD,
Skyworks and TriQuint.
Supply chain:

GaAs MMICs from Raytheon (GaN-

RFMD, Skyworks based MMICs,
TriQuint, etc. TRMs & AESAs)

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Raytheons financial performance over the past three years is shown in Table
CM-14.

Table CM-14 Raytheon Sales Revenues and Net Income 2010-2012

Item 2010 2011 2012

Revenues US$B 25.18 24.86 24.4
Net Income US$B 1.88 1.9 *
As % 7.5 7.6 -

* Unpublished but judging from the income before tax it looks most likely
similar to the 2011 figure.
Somewhat like Northrop Grumman (q.v.) although not so markedly
Raytheons revenues have been slowly declining for at least the past three
years. The Company would appear to maintain a good level of profitability.
Raytheon also remains sensitive to changes in US Defense expenditure but
perhaps only to be cut-backs to the Global Hawk program.

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Selex ES. www.selex-es.com

A Finmeccanica company, Selex ES employs almost 18,000 people worldwide

and generates annual revenues around $4.65B. Selex ES manufactures a range
of AESA radars mainly at its Edinburgh, Scotland base. These AESAs are
summarized in Table CM-15.

Table CM-15 Summary Details of Selex ES AESAs

Code Name Platform Comments

Captor-E Airborne For Eurofighter Typhoon.
1st AESA late 2013.
Deployments from 2015
picoSAR Airborne For UAVs, fixed-wing
aircraft & helicopters
Raven ES-05 Airborne For Gripen
Seaspray 5000E Airborne
Seaspray 7000E Airborne
Seaspray 7500E Airborne
Vixen 500E Airborne For fighters & lead-in
fighter trainers
KRONOS 3D LND Land-based Also USA1
KRONOS 3D NV Shipboard Also USA1
RAN-40L Shipboard
Selenia ALE Land-based For ATC applications

1. KRONOS 3D systems available in the USA via Selex DRS Technologies

subsidiary.

With these eleven AESA radars Selex ES is easily the leading European
manufacturer in this regard.

Selex ES has a Strategic Supply Agreement with RFMD which runs through at
least until the end of 2013. Under this Agreement Selex ES purchases MMICs
from RFMD Newton Aycliffe (UK).

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Definitions, Organization of the Data and Methodology.

In the sections of each module, concerning AESAs (i.e. the final systems),
when we consider monetary values we use the following unique derived term:

Total Monetary Values (TMVs, in millions of US dollars or US$M).

This is introduced because in most instances we cannot consider AESAs to

have market potential as such. In turn this stems from the fact that most
systems are designed specifically for single, identified, platforms and/or
programs.
Also, in most instances the Manufacturing Product Values (MPVs) represent
appropriate quantities as the AESA systems are installed in the particular
platforms and/or programs. In some (limited) instances the AESA systems are
sold more widely, and only then can we state:

MPV = TMV = TAM (only for certain classes of AESAs).

In the cases of TRMs we refer to total markets (TMs). This definition is

particularly important because sometimes TRMs are purchased on the open
market but quite often they are manufactured within the AESA manufacturing
company (see above).

Methodological Sequence for Generating and Processing Data.

We used the Excel application program to insert and process all data as well
as to generate associated forecast charts.
Geographically, data was always generated for Europe and the USA)and
then worldwide (West-friendly) by adding all these results together.
The basic underlying data have been obtained from a variety of sources
including several in the public domain (mainly using Internet-based resources).
Although judicious Internet surfing revealed much we also used data from Janes
publications and from various professional magazines. In the above parts of this
Common Module we have identified as many specific AESAs as possible, existing
and planned, for the airborne, land-based and shipboard application segments
and therefore we generated estimated and forecasted delivery (shipments) data
for every AESA.
In several instances we have addressed the important aspect of retrofitting
new AESAs onto existing platforms. Raytheons Advanced Combat Radar (RACR)
and Northrop Grummans SABR are good examples for retrofitting as upgrades
onto F-16s and F-18A through D aircraft. We used data on the existing fleets
obtained from several sources and judiciously spread the retrofit upgrade
program over several years out to and beyond the time scale of this report.
Therefore both shipment numbers and TMVs were obtained for the full AESA
systems including forecasts to 2017 (we assume a slow, graceful time decline
in AESA costs).

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Starting with all the above data we then associated this with detailed
(approximate) information of each AESA as presented above, initially for TRMs
numbers per array, unit prices (per module) and the total TRM-content array
cost. TRM unit prices were also obtained from several sources and were checked
out for consistency. With due consideration for various factors we believe will
significantly influence the markets we then generated TRM Unit Price forecast
data.
By associating these data we were able to generate:

TRM TAM forecasts.

TRM shipments forecasts.

At this point an important caveat must be noted. We are assuming

that within the forecast period single-MMIC (or even dual-MMIC) TRMs
do not enter production. If in any year they do enter service then we
would expect the new TRM unit prices to initially be more expensive
than current multi-MMIC TRMs. Although in the longer-run costs would
come down as a result of the simpler unit designs. It is also practically
certain that within a few years GaN power (and other) amplifiers will be
implemented within AESA TRMs. Several organizations including
Raytheon are planning this.
All our results are presented as column charts embedded within the texts of
each module: Airborne, Land-based and Shipboard. The data are provided on
the tops of the columns for the single-set charts. Further charts show the
geographic segmentation.

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Appendix

Glossary of Abbreviations

AACER = affordable adaptive conformal electronic-scanning-array radar

(primarily for the A160 unmanned helicopter)
A/D (= ADC) = analogue-to-digital converter
AAW = anti-air warfare (system)
AEGIS = airborne early warning ground environment integrated segment
AESA = active electronically-scanned array (generally regarded as being
synonymous with active phased array. But great care needs to be taken in this
regard.)

AESLA = Active Electronically Scanned Lens Array (covert Raytheon project)

AEW = airborne early warning
AEW&C = airborne early warning & control (radar)
AFB = air force base
AGBR = advanced (L-band) ground-based radar (now subsumed within G/ATOR,
q.v.)
AMSAR = airborne multirole multifunction solid-state active-array radar
AN/APG-63(V3) = multimode fire control AESA radar for F-15/B/C/D aircraft
AN/APG-77 = AESA installed on the F-22 Raptor aircraft
AN/APG-79 = multimode fire control AESA radar for F-18/E/F aircraft
AN/APG-81 = Very important AESA radar for F-35 JSF (Lightning II) aircraft
AN/APG-82 = X-band radar for F-15E
AN/APQ-181 = Multimode X-band radar system for the B-2 strategic 'stealth'
bomber

AN/ASQ-236 = Pod-mounted for F-15E - operating in Ku-band which is just

above X-band

AN/SPY-3 = new X-band AESA radar for future Littoral-class ships and upgrades
- The AMDR system (also: SPY-3 q.v.)
AN/SPY-4 = new S-band AESA radar for future Littoral-class ships and upgrades
- The AMDR system (also: SPY-4 q.v.)
AN/TPQ-53 = truck-mounted AESA radar from Lockheed Martin. Previously
designated EQ-36 q.v.

AN/TPY-2 = AESA radar within the THAAD system (q.v.)

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AN/ZPY-1 = For MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAV & PTOS aerostat

AN/ZPY-2 = Fr Global Hawk UAV (except Triton)
AN/TPN-31 = ATNAVICS major US land-based AESA
APAR = active phased array radar
a = analogue phase-shifter
Artisan 3D = New S-band shipboard AESA (Europe)
ASARS-2 = advanced synthetic aperture radar system 2
ATNAVICS = transportable land and air-portable AESA
B = billion
BFN = beam forming network
BMD = ballistic missile defense
BPF = band-pass filter
BSC = beam steering control
CAR = core antenna radar
CCA = a standard term relating to power supplies (origin obscure)
CDL = common data link
CEAFAR = Australian-developed shipborne X-band AESA
(now in conjunction with Northrop Grumman of the US)
CEAMOUNT = Australian-developed shipborne S-band AESA
(now in conjunction with Northrop Grumman of the US).

CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT operate mutually (parts of the same AESA system)
COBRA = - believed must simply amount to a recognisable name
(i.e. not actually an acronym)
COTS = commercial off the shelf
DA = digitally-controlled attenuator
D/A (= DAC) = digital-to-analogue converter
DDS = direct digital (frequency) synthesiser
d = digital phase-shifter
DSP = digital signal processor
DTED = digital terrain and elevation data
EADS = European Aeronautic Defence and Space (Company)
EIRP = equivalent isotropic radiated power (from antenna or radiating element)
EL/M-2052 = phased array fire control radar (ELTA Systemswithin IAI)

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EL/M-2080 = Green Pine anti-ballistic missile AESA radar (ELTA Systems

within IAI)
EL/M-2083 = air defense programmable radar. Phased array
(Elta Systemswithin IAI)
EL/M-2085 = airborne early warning radar. Conformal phased array
(Elta Systemswithin IAI)
EL/M-2248 = multi-function (shipboard) phased array air defense radar
(ELTA Systemswithin IAI)
EMC = electromagnetic compatibility
EMD = engineering and manufacturing development
EMI = electromagnetic interference
EMPAR = European multi-functional phased array radar
EQ-36 = truck-mounted AESA radar (Lockheed Martin). Now designated
AN/TPQ-53 q.v.
ERIEYE = (from Swedish translation?) long-range airborne early warning &
control (AEW&C) system
ESA = European Space Agency
ESSM = evolved sea sparrow missile
FAR = fixed array radar
GaAs = gallium arsenide (the best known compound semiconductor)
GaN = gallium nitride (becoming strategically important for transmit power
amplifier and other MMICs q.v.)

G/ATOR = ground/air task-oriented radar for US Marine Corps (formerly known

as the multi-role radar systemMRRS)

GMTI = ground moving target identification

HBT = heterojunction bipolar transistor
HEMT = high electron mobility transistor
HFET = high-mobility FET transistor technology
HPA = high power amplifier (RF in this context)
IF = intermediate frequency
IMA = integrated microwave assembly
InP = indium phosphide (a compound semiconductor)
IOC = initial operational capability
ISR = intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

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JSTARS = joint STARS (actually identical to STARS q.v. E8-C)

JV = joint venture
KOTS = kind-of commercial-off-the-shelf (see COTS q.v.)
KRONOS = European & USA AESA-based 3D C-band radars. LND is land-based
whilst NV is shipboard

LEMV = Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle which was to be built by

Northrop Grumman. Recently discontinued.

LNA = low-noise amplifier (RF in this context)

LTCC = low-temperature co-fired ceramic (an important type of MIC q.v.
technology)
M = million
MESA = AEW&C (q.v.) AESA radar (Northrop Grumman)
MIC = microwave integrated circuit (usually means hybrid technology)
MLRS = multi-launch rocket system
MMIC = monolithic microwave integrated circuit
MPA = multi-platform aircraft
MP-RTIP = multi-platform radar insertion program (important for UAVs). Now re-
designated AN/ZPY-2 q.v.
MQ-1 = Predator UAV
MQ-9 = Predator UAV
OEM = original equipment manufacturer
PA = power amplifier (RF in this context)
PAAMS = principal anti-air missile systems
pHEMT = P-type HEMT (q.v.) process technology
PicoSAR = European (Selex) manufactured new AESA radar for relatively small
aircraft
PS-05/A Mk 2 = European (Saab) manufactured new AESA radar for Gripen
aircraft
RACR = Raytheon advanced next-generation radar
RBE2 AA = multimode fire control AESA radar for French Rafale aircraft later
RF = radio frequency (any frequency above about 20 kHz up to several 100
GHz)
RFIC = radio-frequency integrated circuit (typically above about 400 MHz)
RQ-4 = Designation for Global Hawk UAV

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RQ-9 = Designation for Shadow UAV

RMP = Radar Modification Program
SABR = scaleable agile beam radar (Northrop Grumman)
SAM = surface-to-air missile
SAMPSON = believed must simply amount to the recognisable name (i.e. not
actually an acronym). Earlier BAE Systems AESA.

SAR = synthetic aperture radar. Many AESAs embody this feature

SATCOM = satellite communications
SAW = surface-acoustic wave
SBR = space-based radar
SBX = name for the huge shipboard BMD AESA radar currently moored off
Honolulu
SiC = silicon carbide (an increasingly important compound semiconductor)
SiGe = silicon-germanium (an up-and-coming compound semiconductor)
SMART-L = Thales Naval Nederland designation (we believe the L refers to the
old L-band frequency band designation)
SMART-S = Thales Naval Nederland designation (we believe the S refers to the
old S-band frequency band designation)

SPY-3 = new X-band AESA radar for the coming Littoral ships and also upgrades
Within the AMDR system (same as AN/SPY-3 q.v.)
SPY-4 = new S-band AESA radar for the coming Littoral ships and also upgrades
Within the AMDR system (same as AN/SPY-4 q.v.)
SSPA = solid-state power amplifier (RF in this context)
SSR = secondary surveillance radar
STARS = surveillance targeting and attack radar system (E8-C)
T/R = transmit/receive
TCM = transformational communications
TCRFS = total costs per RF subsystem
TDL = tactical common data link
TerraSAR = space-based (X-band) AESA radar. German manufacture.
THAAD = theater highaltitude airborne defense (see AN/TPY-2 AESA)
TMD-GBR = theater missile defense ground based radar
T/R (or TR) = transmit-receive (usually relating to the radar switch)
TRM = transmit-receive modules (shortened abbreviation)
TWT = travelling-wave tube (microwave valve type of wideband amplifier)

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TxRx = transmit-receive (module = transceiver RF in this context)

UAV = unmanned aerial vehicle
UCAV = unmanned combat aerial vehicle
UV = unmanned vehicle (possible confusion with ultra violet.)
VCO = voltage-controlled oscillator
VGA = variable-gain amplifier
WBG = wide bandgap semiconductor (e.g. GaN, SiC)

41 Engalco 2013