AN/APY-9

The AN/APY-9 is the radar at the center of the US Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye upgrade. Lockheed Martin describes it as integral to surveillance and theatre air and missile defense missions, providing enhanced airborne command and control. Its development answered a naval problem: carrier groups need persistent airborne radar coverage able to handle aircraft, missiles, sea-surface targets, clutter, and jamming in littoral and open-ocean environments.

The APY-9 uses a distinctive combination of full 360-degree surveillance and electronic sector scanning. Lockheed Martin highlights UHF operation, space-time adaptive processing, solid-state transmitter electronics, digital receivers, and flexible beam management. This architecture helps the E-2D track air and sea-surface targets while suppressing clutter and electromagnetic interference. The radar is therefore a battle-management sensor, not just an aircraft search radar.

Operationally, the APY-9 gives carrier strike groups a high-altitude sensor node that can see beyond ship radar horizons and coordinate the air picture. Lockheed Martin's 75th-delivery release shows the radar's production maturity for the E-2D fleet. Its service value grows as threats become faster, smaller, lower-flying, or more electronically contested. The radar supports not only detection, but also command, control, and cooperative engagement across naval and joint forces.