Saab Receives $51.45 Million Multi-Mode Radar Award
Saab, Inc. has received a $51.45 million modification to a U.S. Navy contract for Multi-Mode Radar production, engineering support and spare parts, extending the current program work through December 2028. The award was issued by Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., under contract N00024-22-C-5530.
Takeaways
Saab has received a $51.45 million U.S. Navy contract modification for additional Multi-Mode Radar production, engineering support and spares.
The modification exercises an option under the existing contract and combines firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee elements. The award is part of a continuing U.S. Navy and Coast Guard effort to procure and sustain Saab naval radar systems.
The contract is important because the Multi-Mode Radar program has developed into a recurring U.S. sea-service requirement rather than a one-time equipment purchase. Previous modifications to the same contract funded additional radar systems, engineering services and related support.
Contract Details
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Contractor | Saab, Inc. |
| Location | Syracuse, New York |
| Contract value | $51,454,380 |
| Contract number | N00024-22-C-5530 |
| Contract type | Firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification |
| Scope | Multi-Mode Radar production, engineering support and spares |
| U.S. work | Syracuse, New York, 49% |
| Swedish work | Gothenburg, Sweden, 51% |
| Completion | December 2028 |
| Contracting activity | Naval Sea Systems Command |
The work will be performed in Gothenburg, Sweden, for 51% of the effort and Syracuse, New York, for 49%. The arrangement reflects Saab’s established transatlantic industrial structure for naval radar development, manufacturing, integration and sustainment.
Saab has described Syracuse as a U.S. radar center supporting systems installed on multiple Navy and Coast Guard ship classes. The company has also carried out radar manufacturing, testing, integration and sustainment activities at the New York facility.
Funding Covers Navy and Coast Guard Requirements
The Department of Defense award identifies several funding sources.
The largest allocation is $24.79 million from fiscal 2025 Coast Guard procurement, construction and improvements funds, listed as 49% of the award. Navy funding includes $9.97 million in fiscal 2026 other procurement funds, $9.82 million in fiscal 2026 shipbuilding and conversion funds, and $6.55 million in fiscal 2025 other procurement funds.
The listed funding amounts total approximately $51.12 million, which is $332,322 below the stated contract value. The DoD announcement provides the individual dollar amounts and percentages but does not explain that difference, so no assumption is made here about the accounting treatment.
All listed funds are scheduled to be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
What The Multi-Mode Radar Does
Saab’s Multi-Mode Radar is based on the company’s Sea Giraffe Agile Multi Beam radar family. Saab describes the system as a three-dimensional electronically scanned phased-array radar designed for simultaneous air and surface surveillance.
The company says the system combines high radiated power, selectable waveforms and modern signal processing for maritime operations. The radar is designed to maintain surveillance performance across different maritime environments, including coastal and open-water conditions.
The system is therefore different in purpose from the Navy’s large shipboard air and missile defense radars such as the AN/SPY-6(V)1. The SPY-6 is the principal air and missile defense radar integrated with the Aegis combat system on relevant destroyers, while Saab’s Multi-Mode Radar provides a broader maritime surveillance and shipboard sensor function on platforms with different mission requirements.
This distinction matters when assessing the contract. The $51.45 million award should not be interpreted as a procurement of an Aegis-class ballistic missile defense radar. Instead, it supports a radar capability focused on detecting and tracking air and surface activity and providing sensor data to the host ship’s combat and weapons systems.
Multi-Mode Radar Has A Long U.S. Naval Record
The U.S. Navy first selected Saab’s Sea Giraffe AMB Multi-Mode Radar for the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program in 2017. The initial order covered two systems, with options that could expand the program substantially. Saab said the radar was intended to provide simultaneous sea-to-sky coverage for Coast Guard missions.
The radar was subsequently selected for the Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Base program. Saab announced in 2018 that the Sea Giraffe MMR would equip USNS Hershel Woody Williams, while the company also identified the radar as being deployed on Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships under the U.S. designation AN/SPS-77.
The U.S. Navy later continued ordering additional Multi-Mode Radar systems for the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program. A 2019 Saab announcement described the additional order as an option under the original contract and said the radar would be installed on Heritage-class cutters.
This history explains why the current contract is structured as a modification rather than a completely new radar acquisition.
AN/SPS-77(V)3 Production Continues
A June 2026 NAVSEA presolicitation provided additional context for the latest procurement cycle. It identified a planned modification to contract N00024-22-C-5530 covering additional AN/SPS-77(V)3 Multi-Mode Radar production units, spares kits and engineering support for fiscal years 2026 through 2028. The notice identified Saab as the existing source for the system.
The AN/SPS-77 family is derived from Saab’s Sea Giraffe AMB technology. Saab previously identified the AN/SPS-77 as a U.S. Navy designation for the Sea Giraffe AMB and said its Syracuse operation was responsible for U.S. adaptation, integration, installation, testing and sustainment.
The latest production activity therefore represents continuation of an established radar architecture across multiple U.S. maritime programs.
Why Engineering Support And Spares Matter
The contract’s engineering and spares components are significant because naval radar capability depends on more than the delivery of new sensor units.
A shipboard radar has to remain compatible with the host vessel’s combat management system, communications architecture, identification systems and other sensors. Engineering support can therefore cover activities associated with configuration, integration, testing, troubleshooting and continued system support.
Spare parts provide another part of the readiness equation. Radar systems operate in demanding maritime environments, where electronics, antennas, power systems and associated equipment must remain available over long service periods.
Saab’s existing U.S. support model includes manufacturing, testing, integration and sustainment activities in Syracuse. The company has previously said its U.S. radar operation supports systems across multiple Navy and Coast Guard ship classes.
Broader Naval Sensor Context
The Multi-Mode Radar contract also illustrates the layered nature of modern naval sensing.
Large combatants such as Arleigh Burke-class destroyers increasingly depend on sophisticated multifunction radars for air defense and missile tracking. Smaller or differently tasked vessels require sensors optimized for maritime surveillance, air traffic awareness, surface tracking and local force protection.
Saab’s U.S. radar portfolio covers several of these requirements. Its AN/SPN-50(V)1, another U.S. variant derived from Sea Giraffe technology, serves as a shipboard air traffic control and surveillance radar for aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious ships.
The separation of these radar roles allows the Navy and Coast Guard to match sensor capability with platform size, mission and combat-system architecture rather than applying a single radar design across the entire fleet.
Syracuse-Gothenburg Production Model
The current award also reinforces the industrial relationship between Saab’s Swedish operations and its U.S. subsidiary.
With 51% of the work in Gothenburg and 49% in Syracuse, the contract retains a substantial U.S. industrial component while relying on Saab’s Swedish radar engineering and production base.
That structure has been used on earlier Multi-Mode Radar contracts. Saab’s 2018 and 2019 announcements similarly identified Gothenburg and Syracuse as the locations supporting U.S. naval radar production.
For the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, maintaining an established domestic support capability can reduce dependence on overseas maintenance for parts of the system lifecycle while preserving access to the original manufacturer’s radar engineering expertise.
What The $51.45 Million Award Means
The latest Saab contract does not introduce a new radar architecture or announce a new operational capability. Instead, it supports continued production, engineering and sustainment of a radar family already integrated into multiple U.S. maritime programs.
The December 2028 completion date gives the Navy and Coast Guard a multi-year production and support horizon. The combination of new radar production, engineering assistance and spares also indicates that the program is being managed as a continuing capability with lifecycle support requirements rather than simply as an equipment purchase.
For U.S. naval modernization, the contract highlights the importance of maintaining distributed sensor coverage across different classes of ships. Advanced radar capability is not limited to major surface combatants. Coast Guard cutters, expeditionary ships, littoral platforms and other naval vessels also require reliable three-dimensional awareness of activity in the air and on the surface.
The $51.45 million modification therefore represents another step in sustaining Saab’s Multi-Mode Radar presence across U.S. maritime forces while extending production and support activity through 2028.
