RTX's Raytheon to equip U.S. Air Force autonomous fighter jet with PhantomStrike radar

Raytheon, an RTX business, received a contract from the U.S. Air Force to equip the autonomous X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA) with a PhantomStrike radar. VISTA is a modified F-16D Block 30 test aircraft upgraded with Block 40 avionics, a hybrid used as a test bed integrated with machine learning and specialized software.

PhantomStrike is a first-of-its-kind, air-cooled and compact fire-control radar that is smaller, lighter and requires less power than modern AESA radars. It's designed for a wide range of platforms, including uncrewed aerial vehicles, light-attack aircraft, and rotary-wing aircraft.

“Autonomous aircraft are poised to play a key role in helping the U.S. maintain air superiority, and Raytheon's PhantomStrike radar is uniquely designed to help them do it,” says Dan Theisen, president of Advanced Products & Solutions at Raytheon. “This radar is revolutionary in its use of GaN, completely air-cooled technology, and innovation in how we manufacture it - at a lower cost than other modern-day radars.”

With digital beam forming and steering, multimode functionality and interleaved ground and air targeting, PhantomStrike delivers superior radar capability at nearly half the cost of typical fire control radars.